A Military Man
by Writer of olde
Summary: Harry is sent to military school, is the basis of this particular fanfiction. This will take place from the time Harry is seven till the end of the series. Hopefully. Rewrite of 'Military Man'. M for violence, swearing, and probably some nudity.
1. Chapter 1

First and foremost I must warn all of you lovely readers that I will not only be messing with the universe of Harry Potter, but with the universe as a whole. Meaning not just things in Harry Potter will be odd, out of place, or different. There will also be changes in muggle laws, wizard laws, and perhaps a few laws of physics. Most people reading the original version of this fictional piece did not understand that concept and repeatedly brought it to my attention throughout the course of the later chapters. Secondly, while this will be similar to the original, I am rewriting it with the intent on changing a few things. With that out of the way let us begin.

Chapter 1: This'll be fun.

Little Whinging.

17 August 1987.

Number 4 Privet Drive.

The Cupboard under the stairs.

Harry James Potter was lamenting his life, as odd as that sounds for a seven year old to be doing at four in the evening on a Monday. However this young man was rather distraught, he had been locked in his 'Room' for the past two hours. This had been done to ensure that he had not ruined his 'relatives' big dinner party, where his Uncle Vernon was attempting to seal a rather large deal. You see, Vernon was a manager in a large electronics company that produced radios, computer parts, and did repairs. He was in the middle of trying to sell a large amount of parts to a newer company trying to make better, faster computers for consumer use. The man he was discussing this with was also a longtime member of the Royal Marines and had only recently retired. The man had connections in a recently opened military academy, and had mentioned so to Vernon earlier in the evening.

Since then, the cogs in Vernon's little mind had been working overtime, eyes occasionally straying over to the place the freak slept. He knew he wanted that freakish boy out of his house sooner rather than later, and had lost the chance to drop him at an orphanage once the boy learned the address. He brought it up to his client. "So Mr. Free, this academy your friend runs, what's the age range?" Vernon asked, refilling his Cognac.

"As I explained earlier they teach most of the normal subjects that you would find in a school to the younger kids, mainly six to ten or so. Then there begins a focus on tactics, critical thinking, small arms proficiency, and close quarters combat from the ages of ten to twelve." He paused for a breath, taking a sip of his drink. "Then from twelve to eighteen the school focuses on particular subjects based on the students interests, which at the moment offers combat, flying, psychology, intelligence, linguistics, and medicine. From the time students leave the school they can either join Her Majesty's military, go to a university or onto civilian life." He finished, rubbing his small moustache.

"I have a nephew who has been enamored with military life for quite some time, and has expressed interest in joining when he becomes older. Do you think it would be possible to join?" Vernon asked, his eyes filled with a malicious joy.

Free glanced around, searching for the man's nephew. "And where is the young lad, I would have to meet him to be sure before I made any promises." He said, still glancing around as if assuming Harry would appear from thin air.

"He's up in his room at the moment, he's rather shy of strangers you see. Petunia if you could?" Vernon motioned for her to go and get the boy. Thankfully for the Dursley's their sitting room door blocked the cupboard when it was closed so the retired Major didn't watch Petunia walk over and pull Harry from his 'bedroom', wait a moment and head back into the sitting room.

"Ah hello young Mr…" Free trailed off looking to Vernon.

"Potter, Harry Potter" Vernon supplemented, taking another gulp of his drink. A brief flash of surprise flickered across Frees face but luckily no one caught it.

"Well met Mr. Potter, now your uncle here has told me you might be looking at joining the military one day, yes?" Free asked the young boy. The child glanced at his uncle who was nodding to him with a slight glare. He nodded to the man. "Good, I know some people that have begun an experimental school, something similar to the United States West Point, but for the younger generations. I'll let your Uncle fill you in, but I am afraid I must depart." Free said standing and shaking Vernon's hand "If you are interested, have your Uncle give me a call and I'll get you a spot on the roster." The former Major said, taking his coat from Petunia and departing.

Vernon turned to his young nephew and grinned almost maniacally. "I'll let you know now boy that you will be out of this house as soon as they will let you go to that school, and if you utter one complaint I'll make you wish you were dead." His uncle said, motioning to the boy to head back into his cupboard, and ponder his future.

Little Whinging.

24 August 1987

Number Four Privet Drive

Sitting Room

Mr. Free had come through on his promise and a week later Harry had been awoken with the news that he would be shipped out to a boarding school north of Thetford, near the Thetford Forest. Harry had looked it up the Dursleys had and saw it was near the train station. He supposed that was good for moving soldiers around or whatever it was this school did. Mr. Free had said that there would be a Lieutenant coming to pick him up from his home and that he would be expected to be ready to leave at 0700 hours on the twenty fourth. As the day dawned Harry grabbed his meager belongings from his cupboard and was brought into the sitting room to await the man coming to get him.

Vernon had glared at him as he left for work, but had a skip in his step as he thought of getting rid of his hated nephew. Petunia and Dudley had also departed for the moment, to take Dudley to the dentist. So Harry was sitting alone in the continually brightening room, slowly but surely becoming more and more nervous as time ticked by. A few minutes before 0700 there came a knock at the door, Harry peeped out of the curtain before opening the door to allow the uniformed man into the house. "Hello Mr. Potter" The lieutenant shook his hand, "I'm Lieutenant O'Connell, I don't suppose your relatives are around then?" He asked, glancing around the empty house. Harry shook his head, "Oh well, then best be off, bit of a trip." The officer said gesturing to the black Land Rover Defender parked outside, Harry followed him and hopped in the back, dropping his pack at his feet and looking to the officer. "It's a long ride, so if you feel like catching up on some sleep then feel free to, I'm not one for conversation anyway." O'Connell said with a smirk. With this Harry looked back at Privet Drive for the last time in a long time.

Thetford, Norfolk

24, August 1987

Junior Royal Thetford Academy

Gate

Harry was jolted awake at the honk of a horn, apparently O'Connell was trying to get the gate guard to let them in. He stayed silent as they sped up the path, a very large, very old building coming into view. He was startled again as O'Connell addressed him directly. "You'll get a tour of the area later, for now grab your gear and follow me, we'll get you kitted out in the standard uniform and see you to your dorms." The Lieutenant parked and hopped out, quickly addressing an older boy that had run up. "Cadet Johnson, drive that round to the motor pool and get it checked out, I think the headlights need fluid." He said, saluting the boy and walking off.

"Sir, there isn't such a thing as headlight fluid is there?" Harry asked doubtfully. O'Connell smirked at him.

"There isn't, but in his haste I'm sure the cadet forgot that fact as well." He said opening the door to a smaller building to the right of the main building. "This is the Quartermaster's Stores, and in here you'll find clothes, blankets, most of the food, and most training weapons. Here, go see the Corporal over there - tell him you need the standard set and he'll get you fixed up. Afterwards report to the main offices in the large building, follow the signs." With a nod O'Connell left the building. Thankfully for Harry, Corporal Shepard was amiable enough and the process took no more than twelve minutes. Afterwards he went to the office where he was assigned a bunk room and given his class schedule, before being told he had the rest of the day off.

Harry made his way up to the room he'd be sharing with four others, two girls and two other boy's. He stowed his gear and laid back on the bed, contemplating how this new chapter of his life would be written.

So that was the new chapter, how'd you like it? There's a few references in the chapter I'm hoping a few of you will catch, anyway that's all I have for now. Nothing major will change muggle universe wise for a few more chapters, and I'll alert you before and after the fact so no one bites my head off. Lastly big thanks to Pixel and Stephanie Forever for the message last week that got me to follow through on my idea of rewriting this, as well as helping out.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello you beautiful people, I'm back with the second chapter of my re-write, and I'm going to take a minute to discuss some things. Number 1: Why am I rewriting 'Military Man'? The main reason I am re writing the story is that there were a few things that I had meant to include but forgot, or didn't explain well enough. The second reason is that I left the story alone to long and I just forgot where I was in the process, if that makes sense. Number 2: What will be different? I messed up slightly in the original, in the fact that I didn't leave myself enough time to do everything I wanted to before Harry went to Hogwarts. So it'll be hopefully better in that respect. I also plan for longer chapters. The first few chapters being an exception to that rule. On the downside, I'm back at school and working part time so updates will be farther apart. Number 3: Why rewrite it now? Well thanks can be given to my new beta the awesome and fantastic Pixel and Stephanie Forever, for asking me what I planned to do with the series. I had already thought about it but that was the jolt I needed to get it going. Anyway on to the story.

Thetford, Norfolk

10, September 1987

Royal Junior Thetford Academy

Mess Hall

Harry had been at the academy for two weeks now and he was loving it. His day consisted of a light calisthenics in the morning followed by breakfast and his classes. He had English, History, and Mathematics in the morning, and after lunch had Science, Health, and then downtime. After dinner all of the students had access to the rec hall, which had a few pool tables, a small television, a couple of bookshelves that were fully loaded, and a smattering of couches. They had lights out at 20:30 hours, or around 8:30. He shared a dormitory with two other guys and three girls. The oldest was Cedric Diggory, who was their 'Captain', so to speak. He made sure they all got their homework done, and got up in time for calisthenics. The rest of the group were closer to Harrys age, Hannah Abbot who was eight, Walter O'Donnell age seven, Zoe King at age seven, and Ariel Clearwater who had just turned nine. They had all become good friends in the past week, swapping stories about their homes, and their parents.

Cedric had given them a good outline of the next few years, they'd spend time in the basics until their third year where they could then choose up to five new classes, with only English and Maths as the core group. Their choices ranged from first aid, to tactics and logistics, but they didn't have to worry about choosing anytime soon. Harry, Hannah, and Zoe were all first years while Ariel and Walter were Second. Cedric was a fifth year, and he only had a year or so before his choosing. The choosing was where cadets decided whether to go to a different school or stay at the academy. If cadets chose to stay at the academy they had to undergo another choosing at age seventeen, on whether or not to go to university, or to the military, or to civilian life.

At the moment Harry was just finishing his dinner, glancing about at his squad, as his dorm mates were called. He watched the Commanding Officer step up from the teachers table and the Art teacher called them to attention. "Now I have a few announcements to make, I know that the older students know this already and a fair portion of the newer students already know this. For starters, magic is real." Lieutenant Colonel Jameson paused while whispers rolled through the hall. "I know many of you are in disbelief so a demonstration perhaps" He said drawing a thin piece of wood from his coat and flicking it at the table Harry had been eating at. It was suddenly floating in the air, four feet above the ground. With that the whispers stopped. "Now all of you have something in common, you were all born with magic. Some of you for one reason or another have less, some have more. Now some of you here are what the magical community calls 'Squibs' lacking in enough magic to perform spells, but born to magical parents. The rest of you are half-bloods or muggle born, meaning you have magic but one or both of your parents do not." He paused, taking a breath. "You are all here for one reason or another, your parents or guardians dislike magic, or your guardians were unaware of magic. The point of the matter is that you are all here for better or worse and we're going to help you." He paused again gesturing to the other teachers. "We are going to help you harness your magic, or give you an opportunity for a life outside of the magical community, whatever you choose. I know that is a lot to take in, but your Captains can answer any questions you have. Dismissed" With that he sat back down, and in groups the students left the mess hall.

That had been one of the few days in the academy where they had been allowed to break curfew, most students staying up until the wee hours of the morning discussing everything from their accidental magic, to the magical world in general. Cedric had pulled Harry aside after dinner and handed him a medium sized, leather-bound book entitled 'The Rise and Fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'.

"This and a few dozen other books on magical history and theory will be added to the libraries over the next week, but this particular book has some sections on your family history, or at least the um… night your parents died." Cedric finished in a whisper. "I'm always available if you want to talk as is any of your teachers." He said before turning and heading up to the dorms. Harry sat down in a nearby chair and flipped to the index. He figured the chapter entitled 'The death of the Potters and the fall of the Dark Lord' was the one he was meant to read and flipped to it. Hannah found him lightly shaking in the hall twenty minutes later, his body racked by sobs of grief. She didn't offer words of comfort, or try to talk with him, she merely hugged him.

Later that night he confided the information in his squad, knowing that they would eventually uncover it anyway and there wasn't a reason to keep it quiet. They were all really comforting about it, Hannah kept hold of his hand which he thought was nice, despite the germs he believed girls had. He was asleep fast afterwards, with a smile on his face.

Thetford, Norfolk

11 September 1987

Junior Royal Thetford Academy

Administration

Harry stood at attention in the entrance hall of the CO's office, waiting for the officer to finish with his meeting. He didn't particularly care to eavesdrop, since it was a day in KP if he got caught snooping. However with the volume that the three men's voices had taken made it rather difficult not to. From what Harry could make out, Lieutenant Colonel Jameson was arguing about the placement of students. The two other nameless voices he could make out appeared to be railing Jameson about the number of students he had, protesting that it was too many people, and that they couldn't all possibly be magical. Jameson seemed to be holding his calm and explaining the situation to the two men. All too soon the three men exited the office, Jameson leading a pudgy man in a bowler hat and a man with long blonde hair. For some reason that Harry could not understand, he saluted him after he led the two men to the exit and brought them both into his office.

"Now Mr. Potter, I know you've had a chance to learn about your heritage, and what that entails for you. The reason I brought you here is to ask, did you know before last night?" Jameson asked him, leaning back in his seat and steeping his fingers together.

"No sir, my relatives never made me aware of, well any of that knowledge." Harry responded, sitting at the edge of his chair.

"Not even that you had magic?" Jameson said, narrowing his eyes in what seemed to be anger.

"No sir, to my knowledge they despise and have always gone out of their way to tell me that it doesn't exist." Harry cast his eyes downward to avoid showing his CO the anger he felt at being left in the dark.

"Well there are a few ways to go about this, since you technically should have known about your heritage from a young age, there are certain penalties about an appointed guardian not explaining to their child about magic." He paused for a breath here, watching Harry carefully. "The penalties can range from small fines to the child being move to another's custody. It usually depends on the age of the child when they are first told about magic. In your case I believe it would depend upon your wishes, since you are old enough to at least give an opinion to a Department of Wizarding Child Services." Harry's eyes lit up like fireworks on New Year's Eve, not having to return to the Dursley's was a dream come true for him.

"If I do have a choice sir, I'd prefer to be moved to a new guardian, as long as I can stay at the academy." Harry managed not to stumble over the words in his haste, something that surprised Jameson. Harry loved the academy, despite the short amount of time he had spent there. Most importantly for him, was that he had made friends, something that was unlikely to occur in Surrey. Jameson looked at Harry for several long moments. He did not normally look into the mind of his students, but with Harry he simply skimmed the surface thoughts and found him thinking about one female Cadet – Cadet Abbott if his memory served him well. He'd been made aware of the circumstances of Harry's collection from the Dursleys, and he could tell that this girl seemed to be the only real friend he had ever had in his life.

"Indeed" he said carefully, "I'll have to do some paperwork to get that all approved and you'll probably have to give a statement or something similar, but for the time being you won't have to worry about anything" the Lieutenant Colonel said with a warming grin. Harry smiled and thanked him profusely, before being dismissed back to his dorm.

So this is where the chapter ends I am afraid to say. I do plan on trying to make the next chapters longer, but they might not be that much longer. With school starting back up I find myself a little more strapped for time than I was previously. I've had a few people ask as to whether the pairing in the story will change, I have to say I don't know. I like the pairing of Harry/Hannah, (Pixel and Stephanie Forever also STRONGLY likes this pairing) but I plan to put it into a poll in a while. Pixel wants it to be known that donations of Milk and biscuits will make him work faster in betaing the re-write. The author would like to say that he prefers tea and scones, and they help him work period. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I wish you all good luck.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello and good day to anyone who's reading. This update will be a bit quicker because I have a slight lull in schoolwork this week and have finally replaced my USB drive. There is a poll up on my profile for the pairing of this fanfiction and I encourage you all to go and vote. I hope it stays as I intend it to be, however I will respect your voting. I will say that if a chapter takes longer than a couple of weeks that there is probably an issue between my lovely beta Pixel and Stephanie Forever, and not something else. With the last chapter for whatever reason I emailed it to him and it took a week to get it, he blames it on people voting for a change to Harry/Hannah so that could be an issue. One last issue is their oddities in classes, why the older students have classes with younger ones? Cadets are brought in at any time, so someone older will have to at least go through a few months of a basic class to get up to speed. Anyway hope you enjoy the chapter, and I hope you review.

Thetford, Norfolk

18 November 1987

Royal Junior Thetford Academy

Classroom 112

Harry and his squad mates where currently in the middle of a battlefield. As odd as that may sound for being in the Art classroom on a Wednesday afternoon. It had all begun nearly twenty minutes or so when the Art teacher had left to go to a meeting with the administrators. Shortly thereafter an older cadet had slipped on some spilled paint and crashed into another's art project. Not long after that the entire room descended into madness as the cadets began throwing paint brushes, markers, and just about anything they could reach at one another.

Harry, Hannah, and Cedric had taken cover behind an upturned work table and were making good use of the supply cabinet to continually lob objects at the other students. Harry and Hannah wanted to use drawing pins as cluster bombs, but Cedric replied he thought that that broke the Geneva Convention. With how much noise they were making it was surprising that the Music professor in the classroom down the hall hadn't come to check on them. Zoe and Ariel were a few meters from them slowly trying to make their way over to Harry's group, Walter was nowhere to be seen and was therefore presumed to be missing in action. A whistle blew from the door, bringing everyone to attention facing the door. A few older students accompanied by the Art teacher made their way into the room, she sent a disapproving glare about the room.

"Well it isn't going to pick itself up now is it?" When the cadets didn't get going fast enough she barked out "Get to it!"

An hour later and the classroom was clean, and they were allowed to go to the showers. They had missed their science class entirely and had to run to make it into their English class. They sat down a few minutes before the bell tolled and breathed a sigh of relief as they pulled out their notebooks. They spent most of the class taking notes before getting homework and heading off to dinner. Over dinner their class's exploits that afternoon was the main bit of gossip going around and Harry's class kept getting amused looks from others. They spent most of dinner talking about the homework they had to do that evening and the reading's they had to do to get a little ahead. That was the good thing about having Cedric as their Captain, he never pushed them to be too far ahead but just enough that they never had to do homework the night or class before it was due. At the end of dinner the C.O. rose and motioned for silence.

"Starting tonight we will have a sign-up for an extra-curricular activity this weekend. It will be something of a camping trip. Except you will only be issued water, a flint and steel, a knife, a compass, and a radio in case of emergencies. You will have to survive in the forest for 48 hours making your own shelter, finding your own food, and starting your own fires. You will be teamed with your squads and Cadet Captains will not be obligated to go unless only one squad member wants to go. Dismissed." He said turning back to what was left of his dessert. As one Harry's squad snapped to Cedric and started begging him to sign them up.

Thetford, Norfolk

20 November 1987

Thetford Forest

Somewhere

The cadets that had elected to go into the forest had been dropped off half an hour ago, and led into the forest by four instructors. Since then, Harry and his group had made their way farther into the middle of the forest in search of a place to set up camp. So far the most promising place had been a clearing fifteen minutes ago, but it was pretty open to the elements, and it was meant to rain that evening. So they were taking a lovely stroll through the forest at the moment, keeping an eye out for anything slightly sheltered. They eventually found a small clearing with some tree coverage and set up for the night.

While the C.O. had said that they weren't going to be getting any food for the duration of the trip, they had been given a few protein bars, for emergencies of course. Hannah, however, had been given a small box to last her a few days as she had a medical condition that meant she had to be given certain foods to eat if she fell ill. Once they had set up their bags in the clearing Cedric and Ariel went to go and set up some traps they'd learnt in their survival classes, while the rest of them broke off branches and did their best to set up a lean-to shelter, and dig a fire-pit. The lean-to was rather shoddy once it was finished, it was rather flimsy and nearly fell over once or twice. Cedric and Ariel came back and helped them straighten it out while Harry and Hannah went to go and grab something resembling firewood. They walked deeper into the forest to try and find some bigger pieces, because the branches nearer to camp were either too small, or making up their home for the night. They got about ten minutes away from camp when Harry stumbled into a small animal trap, having it tighten around his ankle and throwing him to the ground. Hannah stopped and helped him up, as soon as she could stop laughing at him. They reset the trap as best they could and continued on, their original goal replaced by the beauty of their surroundings. They ran around like kids and went exploring for a while before turning around to go back before realizing that they had gotten rather turned around.

"It'll be fine" Harry said, giving Hannah a small pat on the back "We'll just retrace our steps, besides if we do get lost the others will find us."

An hour and a half later Harry and Hannah were sitting silently on a larger rock, holding onto one another and trying to fight back tears. They had tried retracing their steps, but they hadn't really known where to start. There were very few landmarks in the park that weren't trail markers, and the ground had been too dry to leave any viable footprints. So they had decided to stay put and hope that the rest of their squad came for them. They had one protein bar each that they were saving until once the sun went down, but besides that they were completely without any form of food or water. Hannah had suggested picking a direction and hoping to find civilization but Harry had been against it, saying that they would only get more lost. So here they were, huddled together on a rock watching the sun slowly descend below the horizon and trying not to cry. They had done their best to put up landmarks as to where they were, so that if the rest of the group was headed in the right direction they'd be led to them, hopefully.

#

Cedric was losing his bloody mind, it had been over two hours since some of his youngest squad members had gone missing and the problem was that nobody had bothered to pay attention as to which way they fucking went. So Cedric and Zoe had headed north in search of them, while Walter and Ariel had gone south. They left specific directions to themselves in order to get back, marking up a tree or forming brush into patterns. They had met back up at the camp and repeated the search going west and east, but still they found nothing. Either they weren't going far enough or they were somewhere in-between their search parameters. Cedric was betting on the latter. They kept searching as safely as they could, dividing the water and protein bars. Cedric and Zoe were making their way northwest, and as of now had no luck. They had agreed to meet back up after sundown, since searching in the dark could have led to more of them getting lost. They called out for the two missing cadets every five or so minutes. The last thing that Cedric wanted to do was call the academy and tell them that two of their cadets had gone missing in the forest, but it was getting to the point where he wasn't sure he had a choice. Then he saw it, one of his crappy traps. It had been flipped upside down. Harry and Hannah were getting really cold right about now, freezing really. Despite their proximity to one another, there was no suppressing the fact that it was the middle of November. They had done their best to make a small shelter against a rock outcropping but without a fire they were going to have a tough time about it. Hannah had slipped into unconsciousness a few minutes ago, with Harry getting closer and closer to it. Harry barely heard voices echoing towards him, shouting something intelligible. He shocked back to alertness, waking Hannah in the process. He yelled out for help, hoping that he hadn't imagined the voices. In a break of the trees he saw people rushing towards them, and then his squad was around him.

"Harry! Hannah! Thank god you're alright." It was Ariel, her voice an octave higher than normal and sweat dripping from her nose.

"I am, but Hannah doesn't look too good" Harry pointed to where the girl had a greyness to her skin.

"Damn you two must be freezing, let's get them back to camp." Cedric managed to take control of the situation as he grabbed Harry by the shoulder and brought him to his feet. Ariel hugged the two and they started walking back to their camp. When they reached it, Cedric retrieved the radio and, after a moment's thought, turned it on and called for somebody to come and get Harry and Hannah. Whilst he was sure that Harry would want to carry on with the exercise, it was clear that neither of them should have been allowed to leave camp without one of the older cadets with them.

So this is where I'm gonna call it the end of the chapter. I fully intended for this to go up soon after the last one but then the lady that covers the night shift got sick and asked me to cover and I figured why not. So on top of five extra hours and school I just didn't have time. Do go and vote on the poll in my profile if you want me to change the pairing of this story – although you should be warned that Pixel and Stephanie will track you down and use methods of torture if you do vote for a change… He is very fond of Harry/Hannah. Even if you do, nothing serious will happen for a while. Tatty-Bye


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone, pretty swamped right now with finals coming up so I am choosing to go on a brief break until the second or third week of December. The soonest I will begin work on the next chapter will be the week of the 15th. Do go and vote in the poll on my page as for the pairing of the story, if you don't it will be Harry/Hannah. I will be closing the poll before I post the next chapter, and then we'll see what happens. On with the show.

Thetford, Norfolk

21 December 1987

Royal Junior Thetford Academy

Mess Hall

Most of the cadets had left for the brief Christmas break they had been given. Most of them went home, some went to a friend's house, and some stayed at the academy. The latter was the case for Harry, Cedric, and Ariel. Hannah had wanted to stay for the holidays, but her parents had all but demanded that she return home. In spite of the fact that his best friend had left, Harry was having a jolly good time. He hadn't had a chance to hang out with Cedric or Ariel since they'd been transferred after the whole camping trip debacle. While the commanding officer had been understanding about the whole affair and since no one had been irreversibly hurt, he'd been lenient. However since Ariel and Cedric were the ones meant to be in charge of the younger cadets, they'd been moved to a new team as punishment. Cedric had tried to keep Ariel in the same squad as Harry, but the girl had said she was just as much a part of the problem as Cedric was.

It wasn't all bad, Harry and his remaining original squad got along well with their newest members. Flora and Hestia Carrow were a little younger than Harry, both having been recently enrolled in the Academy after their parents had been arrested. Harry had gotten to know both sisters well in the previous month, and they were both radically different despite being twins. Flora was very outspoken, proclaiming her beliefs and debating those that disagreed. Hestia was the shyer of the twins, preferring to sit in the back of the class and not make eye contact with anyone. Despite his blossoming friendship with the two girls, he still didn't know why their parents had been arrested. The two had gone to stay at an aunts for the holidays, but promised to write to Harry.

Cedric and Ariel seemed to be doing well in their new teams, despite protesting the move vehemently. Their new team was less trusting, but still nice to them. The three friends were in the middle of eating a hearty lunch of beef stew and baked potatoes when the commanding officer stood.

I know there are only a handful of you staying over at the academy these two weeks, so the professors and I are trying to put together a few activities for you all to enjoy. The only one that's been worked out yet is a small paintball fight, but that won't take place for another few days. Notices will be posted in the hallway outside about any other events. Enjoy your meals!" He finished exuberantly, sitting back down to his meal. After he retook his seat the remaining twenty or so cadets broke the silence simultaneously, speaking excitedly to their friends about the upcoming holiday cheer.

Thetford, Norfolk

23 December 1987

Royal Junior Thetford Academy

Mess Hall

The day of the much anticipated paintball war was upon them, and the students that wanted to participate had assembled in the mess hall. There hadn't been any mention of other activities as of yet, but the staff were hinting at something that they would enjoy immensely. There were seven girls and thirteen boys staying on over the holidays, so the cadets were split up by gender. The area they were meant to be fighting in was an old storage warehouse that the staff had cleaned out for the day, and filled with desks and other various objects for the cadets to hide behind. They'd also gone through the place looking for ropes as, an older boy had explained, two years ago the boys' side had lowered half their team down the office area and taken the girls out through the windows. This had been deemed fair play at the time, but they'd changed the rules for all games afterwards. The warehouse wasn't extremely large, but there was a second floor that was broken up into multiple office spaces. It was decided that there was to be two non-objective fights, and a few games of capture the flag depending on how everyone felt. The first game they played the boys were given the second floor to start off in while the girls got the downstairs. Due to their numbers disadvantage the girls were given ten minutes to arrange their floor the way they wanted.

They made their way up to the second floor, rearranging some of the furniture to block off doors, or better provide cover for them later in the day. Harry Cedric and an older boy by the name of Jeremy Brooks were set up on the south end of the floor, keeping their guns pointed towards the stairway. They stayed far enough back that their opponents couldn't poke their weapons around the corner and get off a lucky shot. The rules were that any shot to the chest was 'lethal' and any limb shots were to be counted as immobilizing that limb, and the cadets had to act accordingly. After ten minutes they got the go ahead from the staff in the form of the commander yelling "Go" into a megaphone. Harry and his two cohorts maintained their positions while five of the other boys began working their way downstairs. The basic plan was that five boys would head downstairs while the other eight would maintain a hold of the second floor.

The game hadn't been on for more than five minutes when they heard paint pellets being shot from somewhere underneath them. Harry gripped his gun a little tighter, flashing Cedric a nervous grin before turning his gaze back the staircase. A few more minutes passed before he saw shadows flickering their way up the stairs, he nudged Cedric to get his attention motioning to the stairs. Cedric nodded before peeling out from the desk he was behind and slipping to the right where he'd have a decent shot of the landing if they made it up that far. Brooks took up Cedric's previous position, laying down on his belly and propping his gun up against the leg of a chair. Harry leaned his way out from behind the desk, keeping his eyes trained on the stairs for any sign of further movement. By chance he looked to his left and saw Ariel and two other girls on a catwalk outside of the building. He did his best to make it seem as though he hadn't seen them at all, moving behind another desk that kept him out of view of the windows. Cedric was out of view of the windows behind a pillar, giving Harry a confused look. _Windows_ Harry mouthed to his friend, Cedric's eyes widened in understanding, before turning and getting the attention of the two boys watching the other staircase.

With the information relayed Harry took a deep breath before peeking out, only to see the slight peek of red hair that signified that Ariel was leaning her back against the wall. With none of the girls actually watching the room Harry slowly stood keeping his profile partially concealed by the desk, pointing his gun towards the windows. Brooks and Cedric were still watching the stairs, and the rest of his team was still up to his knowledge, so Harry with his eyes still focused on the window stage whispered to his team. "Stairs" it was loud enough to carry all the way to Ariel and her team, who took the chance to stand on the catwalk. Harry and one of the other boys to the north made quick work of all three, one shot to the chest per girl. Ariel pouted slightly as she realized what had occurred before going to the 'dead' position. The other girls that had been lurking on the stairs took their chance and rushed the upstairs. Harry got hit twice in the fight, one pellet hitting him on the hand as he took aim at the two girls charging up the stairs, and the other hitting him on the foot as he dived for cover. Despite the element of surprise, the boys outnumbered them. Ariel's small force was obviously meant to throw them off their game, allowing the others to take them out while they focused on the catwalk.

They swapped locations, with the girls getting their ten minutes to set up. Soon after they were allowed to engage the boys found out what they had done in those ten minutes. They had upturned more than one desk into two of the three stairwells, making it impossible to go up any but the northern most staircase without alerting them. They had left one girl on the other two stairways, and one to watch the catwalk. The other four were entrenched well facing the northern stairs. The boys were having a small debate about what to do.

"If we all rush the one stairway, then we might have a chance of taking them out." Brooks said, glaring angrily at the blocked off stairs to his right.

"If we do that we get slaughtered, if we attack from all points of entry we might divide their forces enough that we can get through." That was Cedric, sighing in disappointment. Harry had a contemplative look about him, prompting Garrick Downey to ask him what he was thinking.

"I was thinking that if we attack from the north and the catwalk, then some of the younger kids and I might be able to go up the west stairs or the south stairs and surprise them." Harry said, scratching the back of his neck. To his surprise there were a large amount of heads bobbing in agreement with his plan.

"Agreed. Cedric, Downey, Smith and I will move for the catwalk. Harry, Jacob, and Anderson will go for the west stairs. The rest of you will move for the north stairs." Brooks said, before grabbing his gun and heading towards the doors that led outside. Harry nodded to the two boys that were about his age, Jacob being the smallest, with Anderson being the tallest of the trio.

They moved slowly for the stairs, carefully clambering over chairs, desks, and trying not to disturb coffee mugs and clipboards that had been set up for them to knock over. They were just up to the landing dividing the two floors when they heard one of the girls shriek, before the sound of pellets hitting desks began to sound. Harry and his trio made their way swiftly up the steps, the sounds of their footsteps being overshadowed by pellets hitting desks, cadets clambering over objects, and useless orders being yelled.

They made it up to the second floor and peered into the room. The remaining four girls were huddled together behind a trio of desks that had been flipped, with the only gap being pointed straight at Harry and his group. They took position, and pulled the triggers has fast as they could, pelting the four girls with pellets. The group emerged as the commander declared the boys the winners. Although the girls had lost, they had managed to take out eight of the boys as they stormed their way up the stairs.

The staff congratulated both teams before taking a vote as to who wanted to continue. Most of the cadets were bruised and battered, a few with bruises and lumps forming as they spoke with the staff. It was decided that they could continue tomorrow if they wished, but for today they were to retire to the mess hall for a spot of dessert, and more than a few cups of a hot beverage. As he sipped the hot chocolate, Harry deeply wished that Hannah had been there to join in with the fun. Then, another thought struck as he realized that if they had faced each other during the game he wouldn't have been able to hurt her – even if it _was_ only _just_ a small pain from the paintball pellets. This confused him a lot, and he decided to talk to Cedric about it – he knew he could speak to him even if he was in another squad now. After all, Cedric knew the answers to nearly everything…

That's a wrap ladies and gentlemen, once again I would like to thank the fabulous Pixel and Stephanie Forever for the lovely job they do as a beta. (Pixel here: Sorry about this getting uploaded late, but I got the story and was working my way through it when I suddenly had a sort of mini-seizure… The only bad thing is that I now have to wear reading glasses – not that bad a trade really). I hope you all had good holidays, whether it was thanksgiving or another holiday. I hope you all liked the chapter and I'm looking forward to the next time I post one.


	5. Chapter 5

Hello everyone! Finals are over, and I'm on winter break now. That means that I'll try an update a little more frequently, but I'll be working on some original content since I've mostly put that on hold since summer. Also the results of the poll are now in, and with 21 votes the official pairing for the story is Harry Potter and Hannah Abbot. (This has nothing to do with the threats of attack ninjas that I may or may not have mentioned- Pixel) This chapter will be a little shorter than the rest, because it's the Christmas chapter! Outside of that nothing special should be going on, there are a few answers to questions I received at the end, but for now the show goes on.

Thetford, Norfolk

23 December 1987

Thetford

High Street

The cadets had gotten their second activity for the Christmas holidays and were currently broken up into two groups of ten and were allowed to explore Thetford, and they got to get lunch at a place of the groups choosing. Harry and Cedric had done their Christmas shopping, mostly using Cedric's money but Harry had promised to compensate him at a later date. They'd mostly gotten smaller gifts or assorted sweets for their friends, but they'd gotten Ariel a copy of the Little Mermaid as a joke, and because she loved Disney movies. Harry had also gotten Hannah a historical fiction book, about the ancient crusades and the Knights Templar. Other than that the two lads simply wandered from place to place with their group, marveling at places, people, and ruins. The group settled down at an Indian restaurant close to the Academy and sat for lunch. Harry had some sort of lamb dish that he couldn't pronounce the name of and after he finished the first bite it felt like he could breathe fire. Cedric had laughed at how red his face had gone and proffered another glass of water to him. Despite its heat Harry loved it and almost asked for seconds. After lunch they strolled around Thetford for another few hours, walking from the outskirts of the city inward. They met up with the second group while they were on their way back to the Academy, with Harry and Cedric hiding their recently bought presents from Ariel and for Cedric's other friends. The other students were all bearing gifts and leftover boxes from their lunch at a fish n chips shop down the road. The group made a collective stop at the post office and mailed whatever packages they could, but most people kept them for after break was over. When they arrived back at the Academy it was like walking into a different world. The whole place was covered in fairy lights and wreaths, trees stood tall under the weight of decorations, and twenty medium sized gift boxes were nestled under the tree in the Mess Hall. The staff welcomed them back with hot cocoa and some small cookies and sweets, and getting them settled in before the history teacher stood and gathered their attention.

"You may have all noticed that we have decorated for the upcoming Yuletide, and there are gifts for all of you under that tree already. Now I know most of you have already done your shopping, so we have rolled out some assorted gift wrapping implements in your dorms, and you can place your gifts under the tree at any time you wish." The teacher paused, looking at the students. "Now I'm sure you all want to know what's under the tree already, and it is… A surprise, but you can open them at eight o'clock tomorrow." The teacher winked at them before exiting out the side door to the staff room. From there speculation was rampant amongst the students as to what could be in those boxes, but the consensus was that it was the same gift for all of them.

Harry finished his wrapping and wrote the recipients names on the gifts, for the Carrow twins he had gotten a Ying and Yang amulet that split into two halves so they could each have one, for Walter and Zoe he had gotten a new CD of their favorite bands, and for Cedric he and Ariel had gotten him a Chelsea F.C. scarf. Once he was done Harry walked down to the Mess Hall and placed Cedric's gift under the tree, taking care not to upset the rather bad packaging job he'd done with the scarf. With that particular job finished Harry went back up towards his dormitories, intending to get some rest for the next day. Unfortunately when he arrived he found Ariel and Cedric waiting for him.

"Hey Harry." Cedric greeted him as he entered the room.

"Hey Ced, what are you guy's doing here?" Harry asked, moving towards his bunk.

"Well, we heard that some of the older students are setting up a couple of movies down in the rec hall, and we figured you might want to come." Ariel said, grinning from ear to ear. Harry wasn't sure if he would be able to stay awake for one movie, let alone a few. However he nodded to his two older friends and grabbed his pillow and a hoodie, motioning for them to lead the way.

"We figured you'd be up to it, there's supposed to be some junk food that some of the guy's smuggled in from the village. Supposed to be a few Christmas movies and I think my mate Craig said something about a few James Bond movies." Cedric said as they walked through the dorms, Cedric continuing on to talk about his favorite Bond and leading Ariel and he to almost have a fight over who was better between Sean Connery and Rodger Moore. Harry smiled at his friend's antics as they continued towards the rec hall.

Thetford, Norfolk

24 December 1987

Royal Junior Thetford Academy

Mess Hall

The students were not feeling great. Three hours of movies, soda, overly salted popcorn, and assorted candy would do that. Despite how they felt the twenty cadets that were still at the Academy were all sitting in the Mess Hall, having breakfast and watching the clock. Late last night one of the students had suggested that the history teacher had only said that they had to wait until eight o'clock to open their presents, but the teacher hadn't specified night or morning. So promptly at eight o'clock the students rushed over to the tree and began sorting out the boxes, and as one they began to tear apart the wrapping paper. Inside they found a set of books, spell books to be exact. They were for the most part similar, all students received: "1000 Magical Herbs and Fungi", "An Introduction to Defensive Magiks", and "An Introduction to Potion Brewing". Depending on the age of the student, as well as any magic based classes they had taken, a student got different, "Standard Book of Spells" with the least experienced student receiving Grade 1 and the most experienced receiving Grade 5.

"I see you all chose to forgo patience this morning?" It was a statement framed as a question, but there was no ire behind it, as the students turned to find their history teacher standing at the doors. "Indeed I wish you all an early Merry Christmas and I hope you all enjoy your new books." With that the teacher turned around and walked towards the staff room.

For the rest of the day before Christmas the students were either eating, in the rec hall, or reading their newly acquired spell books. Harry spent most of his day reading in his dorm with Cedric and/or Ariel for company, he was so completely immersed in his new books that he completely missed lunch. As he lay down for bed that night, he decided that even if the next day was utterly horrible, that this was going to be one of the best holidays in his life. His last thought, the one that occupied his mind before sleep claiming lordship over him, was how much he missed Hannah and he wondered what it was that she would be doing with her family. He'd never had a family, so he wasn't sure what one _was_ , but Hannah seemed to like hers a lot.

" _Maybe_ " he thought drowsily, " _Hannah can be my family_ "

So this is where I end the chapter, I wish you all a happy holidays and ask you all to stay safe. I answered a few questions down below, and other than that all I have to say is thank you to the wonderful beta, Pixel and Stephanie Forever. (I know… I do such a good job doing beta work that I managed to find the time to beta the Star Wars script – Pixel)

A quick preemptive answer to the question I know will be asked, why did they all get the same books sans the standard book of spells if there are some more advanced? My idea is that the more advanced students got different books the previous year, or were already expected to have them.

So some answers to questions that were asked in the reviews: Why are any of the cadets leaving the academy since the premise was that they weren't wanted at home? The premise as I wrote it was that, for the most part, the cadet's guardians either didn't like magic, or were unaware of it. Now that is not to say that there aren't other reasons, such as the Carrow's being imprisoned, but the daughters going to their aunt's home for the holidays. Since there are more than a few students that have relatives or parents or guardians that do not care about their magic or are unaware of it, they go there for the holidays and invite friends. Also if the guardian is unaware of the child's magic, then they just think that they're going to a military school.

Next question: Why is Cedric and other older students attending the first year's classes? So the Academy works a little odd, and since I've neither attended a military academy, nor a boarding school, I'm not sure if it's freakishly abnormal. Art in my mind is an elective, because in America for the most part it is, and electives at this level of schooling take place in the early morning hours or the late afternoon. So by my reasoning Cedric was either taking the Art class, or had nothing better to do during that period and decided to attend the class. In terms of other classes, think of it as remedial work or taking it for the first time. In the fact of Harry's squad my idea is that Harry, Hannah, Walter, and Zoe entered at roughly the same time and were either working to catch up, or were following along until the class got to a point they hadn't covered.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey everyone and welcome to the first chapter of the New Year! Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, I am utterly slammed with work this quarter. My class schedule is pretty full and my work schedule means I have just enough time to eat and sleep during the day. I am **NOT** going to abandon this or put it on hiatus, but updates will be coming painfully slowly. In better news I graduate in about 5 or so months, and after that I have all the time in the world, sans my job. So if you bear with me it will get better. This chapter has the first major time skip, which I had intended to do after chapter 4, but it just worked out better the way it did. At least I think it went well, did it go well? Anyway tallyho ladies and gentlemen.

Thetford, Norfolk

24 August, 1990

Royal Junior Thetford Academy

Mess Hall

It was three years to the day since Harry had come to the Academy, and he could honestly say that it had been the best three years of his short life. In the time he'd been in the academy he'd gained more friends than he would have ever imagined he could have. Hannah, the Carrow twins and Walter were still in a squad with him, and were some of his closest friends. Some of his friends had left, Cedric and Ariel had both gone to Hogwarts after their eleventh birthday, and some of the older students that Harry had gotten to know well had left to join Her Majesty's military. Of course not everything was all chipper and dandy. There had been an increase in pressure from the Ministry of Magic for the Academy to lose its funding, to which Prime Minister John Major had apparently told the magical Prime Minister to 'stuff it'. Apparently the Wizengamot, the magical form of parliament, had grown increasingly nervous about children of magical heritage being trained to be soldiers. They obviously hadn't done their research into what the academy did, but stupidity breeds fear. Harry had been pulled into a meeting the previous week with Lieutenant Colonel Jameson and a fair number of other bigwigs Harry didn't recognize. Apparently if it came down to it Her Majesty was unwilling to upset a majority of Her subjects for the continuation of one training academy. The Prime Minister agreed with her, however with the knowledge that a Wizarding World hero was attending the academy, the politicians believed that they could lean on the Wizengamot if it came down to it. With that idea in their heads they had gone to Harry and Jameson, for permission. Harry had been amiable to the suggestion, knowing that without his backing the Academy he now called home could very well become non-existent. After the half a dozen politicians had left, Jameson had kept Harry for a few minutes.

~~Flashback~~

"Harry, while I am glad you are prepared to stand up for the Academy, I must warn you of what this will mean for you." The Lieutenant Colonel had been grim faced throughout the meeting, and his facial expression hadn't changed.

"What do you mean Sir?" Harry sat towards the edge of his seat, awaiting his superior's wisdom. Harry wasn't worried about having to speak up for his Academy, but if his Commanding Officer believed there was a reason to be, he was willing to listen.

"What I mean, is that for the most part we have been able to keep the fact that you attend this Academy a secret from the magical population. If they had known there was a fair chance that you would have been hounded by fans, reporters, and perhaps targeted by the remnants of Voldemort's forces." The Lieutenant Colonel stopped for a breath, looking Harry up and down. "If the knowledge that you attend this Academy comes to light, those things could very well come to pass." Harry nodded, looking down at his trainers in contemplation.

"What could we do in the event of such a thing?" Harry asked, glancing up from the floor.

"At minimum we could increase security, at most we could move locations. With the larger influx of cadets we've been receiving, it may be prudent to move locations anyways. However we'd like to do our best to avoid such a thing from occurring outside of our control." Harry nodded when Jameson finished.

"Well I may not have to speak in front of any sort of wizarding parliament anyway, but if it comes to pass that I must, I'll do whatever I can to limit the fallout for the Academy." Harry spoke with a conviction in his eyes that impressed Jameson.

"No need to worry about that for now Cadet Potter, for now just focus on your classes and your decision on how to continue your education." Harry nodded once more. "Dismissed."

"Yes Sir." Harry said spinning on his heel and walking from the room.

~~Flashbacks over now~~

At the moment Harry was sitting with the Carrow twins and Hannah in the Mess Hall, trying to decide on what to fill out on the form the administrative staff had use handed out. There were three options presented to them. They could go to Hogwarts, to learn magic. They could stay at the Academy to learn a mix of magic and muggle options, as well as later commit to focusing more on the military aspects. The last option was to leave the Academy and go to a normal non-magical school. Harry had ruled out the third option, but honestly couldn't decide between the first two. On one hand, Cedric and Ariel had both gone to Hogwarts, and most of his squad were probably going to do so as well. On the other hand, the Academy had become more of a home to him than Privet Drive had ever been, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to leave it or not. Not to mention there was a large part of him that didn't want to leave behind the non-magical education he was receiving.

"What're you thinking Harry?" Hannah asked him, nibbling on the end of her pen.

"Debating what to do, while I would love to go to Hogwarts I just can't bring myself to leave the Academy." Harry missed the anxious look the three girls gave him, as well as their already filled out papers.

"Whatever you decide Harry, we'll stick with you." Hestia said from his left side, pushing her long brown hair back from her face.

"She'd right Harry, whatever you pick, we won't desert you." Flora agreed from his right side. Harry was happy that his friends would be behind him.

"Thanks guys, but don't let me make the decision for you. No matter what happens we'll still be friends right?" Harry posed his rhetorical question to the three girls.

"Of course Harry." Harry nodded at their answers before turning back to his slip of paper. He knew what they wanted to do, all Hannah had talked about this week was finally being able to go to Hogwarts. He wasn't afraid to admit he had a small crush on his best friend, he was just scared to admit it to her. He knew that Hestia and Flora were excited to finally learn magic as well. Walter on the other hand… Well Walter was a squib, so he knew what he was going to stay at the academy for the moment.

Harry knew there was more than an eighty percent chance he was going to go to Hogwarts, but he just couldn't make the decision. On one hand Harry was enjoying his classes at the Academy, and the light military aspect that was beginning to come to the forefront. On the other he also knew that the Academy was only going to teach basic charms, light offensive spells and a heavy amount potion making. Harry wanted to learn lots of magic, but he could always self-study at the academy. The same could be said for his non-magic classes, he could always self-study. Harry nodded to the trio of girls and excused himself from the Mess Hall, hoping that some fresh air would make his choice come easier.

Harry wandered the grounds for twenty minutes, accompanied only by his thoughts. He wandered past the motor pool, the armory, and the obstacle course. He nodded respectfully to the older cadets he passed, and gave the officers the respect he was required. At the end of his walk, Harry had come no closer to the answer he was seeking. He began to make his way back to his dormitories before he walked, quite literally, into Hannah. After a moment of apologies and helping each other back to their feet, and laughing, they sat down on a small pile of cinder blocks. "You okay Harry?" Hannah had a look of concern in her eyes.

"Look I didn't hit the ground that hard." Harry said with a chuckle. He noticed the look of annoyance that Hannah gave him before she opened her mouth again.

"I didn't mean that, I've hit you harder before. But you've been really quiet all through lunch and then you just took off, I figured something had to be wrong." Hannah eyed him up and down. "Is it about the school choosing?" Harry shook his head as she cut right into the heart of it. He relayed what was troubling him quickly enough, watching as she waited patiently for him to finish. "I know what you mean, ever since my parents died this place has been as good as home. Leaving it isn't going to be an easy choice to make, but it isn't the Academy that's home." She paused for breath, but continued at Harry's expectant look. "It isn't the building, or the classes, or the events. It's the people that have made this place home, you and Cedric and Ariel made me feel welcome in this place. You guys made it bearable to exist after mum and dad died." She looked at him with tears beginning to form in her eyes. "That's why where I go depends on you - without you and the team, I'm almost no-one." Before the words were out of her mouth Harry was already shaking his head.

"You aren't no-one Hannah, no matter where you are or who you're with you're always going to be my best mate. You're always going to be the girl with blonde pigtails that tripped over a pile of books in the dorm the second day we were here. No matter what happens, I'll always be around and I'll always be there for you when you need me most." He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, leaning back and resting his palms on the concrete around him.

"Thanks Harry, we have to go and get ready for class. I'll leave you to your thoughts but don't be late." She waved at him as she trotted off to their dorm. However Harry didn't need to be alone with his thoughts, Hannah had just made up his mind for him.

He was going to Hogwarts… 

As always many thanks to my beta Pixel and Stephanie Forever (who had very little to do this chapter – Pixel). Next chapter should be interesting, I'll try and show off a bit more of how the Academy is affecting the Wizarding World. In other news my laptop finally gave up and died while I was writing this chapter, so I finally had a reason to get a new laptop. In case anyone wants to know, I listened to Be Somebody by Boyce Avenue the entire time I wrote this chapter, it's a pretty good song.


	7. Chapter 7

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. I have a miraculous three days off and nothing to do, so I wrote this lovely chapter. I've got good news and bad news also! Next quarter is coming up and I get to take less classes than normal since I'm pretty close to graduating, which means more free time to work. I've also been laid off my night job, which is the bad news. So I've got some free time that I didn't think I'd have. I'm going to try and make either longer chapters that take about the same amount of time to update as I've been managing previously, or I'll keep it the same length and update a bit quicker hopefully. Also I hadn't noticed before now but the page breaks I use don't actually appear when it's posted to the site. I'll rectify that soon.

Let me know what you think, and as always a round of applause to my lovely beta Pixel and Stephanie Forever. (I have hidden a little joke for the scholars in the room – Pixel) Be forewarned, there's another jump in this chapter.

Enjoy.

Thetford, Norfolk

28 July, 1991

Royal Junior Thetford Academy

Dormitories

Harry and Walter had just awoken late on a Sunday morning when they heard a loud and incessant tapping on the window. Their first inspection showed it to be a tawny owl, with a large yellowed envelope tied to its foot. Walter opened the window cautiously and left it open when the large bird hopped through and proffered its leg to Harry. Harry was glad the other two boys that he and Walter shared a room with had already left for breakfast, they were both squibs that held a certain animosity toward Harry for being a wizard. Walter didn't much care since he'd known Harry for so many years, but there was still a lingering anger towards wizards in general that Walter had.

Harry cracked the wax seal on the envelope and unraveled the letter.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwamp, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl no later than 31 July.

Yours Sincerely

Minerva Mcgonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Harry skimmed through the second page of the letter, making note of the materials he didn't have already: Robes, gloves, wand, telescope. When he was done he looked over to Walter who was grinning as he watched the emotions rush over Harry's face. There was happiness, excitement, and then sadness. Walter understood why his friend was sad, but he knew it wouldn't last that long.

"Congrats Harry, this place just won't be the same without you. It'll be terrific." Walter smiled to take the edge off of his words. Harry smirked at his friend.

"At least I'll finally get a night's sleep without having to worry about you keeping me up by snoring mate." He and Walter shared a laugh before slipping off of their beds and getting dressed before heading off to breakfast.

"So how's your grade in Sergeant Kensington's class?" Walter asked as they walked down toward the Mess Hall for breakfast.

"I've got a B." Harry said, rubbing his shoulder where the Sergeant had hit him particularly hard during their last sparring session.

"That's better than I did when I went through her beginner's course. I'm having a real pain with my potions essay, are you going to have time to look it over before it's due tomorrow." Walter nodded to a passerby, heading into the Mess Hall.

"I should, unless something comes up. If worse comes to worse I bet Flora would look it over, she's a wiz at potions." Harry said with a smirk, knowing his friends thoughts on the eldest Carrow sister.

"You know she scares me mate, and not because she threatened to rip my bollocks off with a serrated blade, you know her parents were Death Eaters." Harry gazed at his friend disapprovingly.

"Yes I do know, because she and Hestia told us. Besides you aren't scared of Hestia in the slightest." Harry grabbed a few pieces of bacon and toast as they sat down, grabbing an apple and making himself an omelet as he went.

"Yah well, Hestia is Hestia, she couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to." Walter was beginning to get defensive, and glared at Harry angrily. Or as angrily as he could considering there was porridge dripping out the side of his mouth.

"Helps that you fancy Hestia." Harry said with a mischievous grin.

"I don't fancy her!" Walter gasped around his spoon.

"Who does Walter fancy?" Hestia asked as she sat down next to him, leaning her head on one hand and giving Walter her full attention.

"Indeed who could it be?" Flora said mirroring her sister. Walter sent a pleading look at Harry, silently begging him not to continue his teasing.

"Why ladies it's rather simple." Harry took a measured breath as the twins leaned in and Walter silently promised him pain. When he was sure he had their fullest attention he spoke, "It's a secret." The twins startled forward and slapped Harry on the back of his noggin.

"Don't abuse Harry too much girls." Hannah cut into their conversation as she sat down. Harry grinned cheekily until Hannah continued speaking. "That's my job."

"Hannah!" Harry whined. The table broke out into laughter as the two friends began poking each other in revenge. They sat in silence for a while after the laughter died down, calmly eating their breakfast.

"I finally got my letter." Harry said taking a bite of his omelet.

"Congrats Harry, I think we're supposed to go to Diagon Alley to pick up whatever we need next week." Hannah nodded in agreement with Flora.

"That's good, I only need a few things but…" Harry trailed off as Colonel Jameson walked over to their table.

"Cadet Potter with me." His CO barked as he kept walking to the door. Harry stood up quickly and made to follow his superior.

"Congratulations on the promotion, Sir." Harry said in his 'formal voice' as he caught up to the man.

"Thank you Potter. What we feared has come to pass. The Wizengamot has decided they don't like the Crown being able to relocate their orphans and unwanted into a muggle system and they also seem to be taking an exception to their being magical advisors in Her Majesty's military and in Parliament." They had swiftly made their way to Jameson's office and stepped inside.

"Why Sir?" Harry inquired as his CO gestured for him to sit down.

"At the pressuring of one, Lucius Malfoy the Wizengamot has decided that they have more power than Her Majesty and thus should be completely autonomous from our government. They're already left to their own devices but they want to be able to work without the limitations of the Treaty of Kent, which prohibits them to the Crowns rule and decides that their Minister must report to the Prime Minister at least three times a year. "Jameson sighed before continuing "They have been persuaded by money and cunning that it is best that non-magicals have no ability to oversee them or step in if they overstep their boundaries."

"I understand Sir." Harry nodded, "I assume I will be asked to speak before the Wizengamot?"

"Indeed, but be warned there will be a large number of politicians present - and most will try to use anything they can to prevent us from stopping this Bill. We leave in an hour." Jameson said, sorting though some papers.

"What does the Bill say exactly Sir, if I knew then I could be better prepared." Harry asked.

"Very well." Jameson said pulling two sheets of paper from his desk. "In short. Article 1: The Royal Junior Thetford Academy is to be disbanded and its children placed in appropriate homes or orphanages. Article 2: Any magical citizen will resign from any muggle employment. Article 3: The Ministry of Magic will have complete autonomy from its muggle counterpart. Article 4: The muggle government will not be allowed to perform actions inside the Wizarding World."

"Sir, I just remembered. Isn't there a part of the Treaty of Kent that prevents any Bill from being enacted without the Queen and Prime Minister's approval?" Harry asked, the proverbial lightbulb going off above his head.

"Indeed, however the Queen and PM understand that there isn't any reason for the Ministry of Magic and the Wizengamot to acknowledge that part of the Treaty if they're already trying to secede from British society." Jameson said with a frown. "On the plus side we're going in with a few important politicians, namely the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and the Home Secretary. That means we get a dozen armed Special Forces coming in with us in case they try something." Harry nodded absentmindedly, still puzzling over what he was going to say to the Wizengamot.

"Sir, what prompted this move by the Wizengamot?" Harry asked, his face scrunched up in confusion.

"There has been a slight revival of the 'Pureblood Only' dogma that was birthed by Voldemort, except it has taken to form of 'Wizards Only'. With that revival I would guess that the wizards that supported Voldemort managed to gain a better foothold in the world again and began trying to push this through." Harry nodded, again in deep thought. "I have notified your instructors, you may wish to go and get changed into your dress greens, and I'll send word when we have to leave." Harry nodded and stood, turning on his heel and marching out the door.

Harry hurried back to his dorm and began organizing his dress uniform that had been issued to the cadets for inspection purposes. He finished grabbing his really uncomfortable dress shoes before disrobing and beginning to slide his beige trousers on. He was halfway finished putting on his slightly too large overcoat when Walter and the three girls walked in. They took a minute to process what Harry was doing before Walter spoke up.

"Harry I know you want to look nice for me but you could save it for formal events." Harry responded by flipping his friend the bird.

"The CO and a few politicians are going to speak at the Wizengamot, and, since they believe that I'll have some sort of sway with them, I'm being asked along." Harry explained, slipping his longer socks and then his dress shoes. The information that the wizarding government was likely to try and interfere with the school was common knowledge at this point, and thus needed no explanation.

"I mean I understand why you're being asked to go, but what are the wizards trying to accomplish?" Flora had a confused look on her face, biting her lower lip as she tried to make rhyme or reason for the Wizengamots political maneuvering.

"Autonomy. They think that the non-magical folk have too much sway in their government. At least that's what the Colonel told me, I'm sure there has to be another reason but for the life of me I can't think what it is." Harry said, scrounging around his bed for the cap he had dropped. Once he had picked it up, he took hold of his clip on tie. Although most of the cadets wore the standard tie, Harry had special dispensation for something differing due to a psychological reasons stemming from when he was at the Dursleys.

"Well they could just be testing the waters, seeing what sort of political response they get from our end and theirs, or they could be planning to kill whoever comes to represent the Queen. One way or the other it'll be a hostile situation by any meaning of the word." Hannah had a worried look on her face as she gave her ideas on the situation.

"I had considered the idea of an ambush, but they wouldn't waste their time with a Colonel and a few relatively minor politicians. Besides we have a dozen Special Forces that are escorting us at all times, we'll be fine." Harry spoke quickly to quite his friend's fears. "I'm afraid I probably won't be able to take a look at your potions essay Walter, but as I said Flora would probably help if you asked nicely." Harry grinned as his friend gulped and looked over at the eldest twin.

"I don't know Harry, he'd have to ask reeeally nicely." Flora said with an almost predatory grin.

"I still have about a half an hour till the Colonel will call me down, so who's up for a game of chess?" Harry said glancing at his watch.

"I'll play I guess." Hannah shrugged.

"I'm gonna go work on my potions essay, good luck Harry." Walter quickly made his way to the door, followed shortly by Flora. Hannah and Harry set up his chess set, while Hestia settled into a chair to watch.

London, England

28 July, 1991

Backseat of a Land Rover

Harry and Jameson were situated in the back of a lightly armored Land Rover Discovery for their trip to the Tower of London where the original Ministry of Magic was located. Before the newer and more widely used facility came into existence, the Ministry held power in a deeply warded area under the Tower. Despite the centuries of near dis-use, it still was used for its sole courtroom – Courtroom 1. It was the courtroom that used for the meeting of every single member of the Wizengamot. Otherwise, the DMLE used it for training purposes. The four politicians that were coming to represent Her Majesty were split up into two other cars with a compliment of four heavily armed SAS per vehicle. They were heading to the direct entrance of the Ministry of Magic. Five of the Special Forces men hopped out of the SUV's and scanned the area with weapons drawn before finally giving the all clear. The rest of the group exited their SUV's and began making their way to the doors, four SAS leading the group and four behind with the other four fanned out around them. Needless to say they made it into the building without any sort of complication. They were then led into an elevator that took them downwards into the Atrium of the Ministry. They made their way through and met up with a tall balding black man.

"I am Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, and I will be guiding you down to the Wizengamot's chambers." He said as an introduction, his baritone as smooth as gravel. He eyed the soldiers guns with some fear and a little awe, before turning and leading them towards a large lift in the back of the Atrium in a room labeled as 'VIP access only'. Once underground, the group walked along darkened passageways that had quite some dust and debris. They made their way down to a doorway labeled 'Courtroom 1' which bore the legend ' _Te Amare Volo_ 'inscribed in faded gold over the doorwayand were led inside by Auror Shacklebolt. "We've been meaning to get that changed" he said.

"Why have you not done so?" asked Harry.

"Budget cuts"

"Well…" Jameson said with sympathy, "That is something we have in common in both our worlds". As per the way they entered the building, the SAS entered first and fanned out - covering all of the doors in the room and having a good eye on all of fifty members of the Wizengamot. The group was led to a large table on the left side of the court, they had to squish together slightly but they managed. On the other side of the room there were three men seated, one with long blonde hair and an arrogant smirk on his face, the second man was short and balding continuously ruffling the papers in front of him. The last man was portly with a small green bowler hat that he kept twiddling nervously.

"I believe we can begin early since everyone has arrived?" A tall woman wearing a monocle questioned the room. There were murmurs of acceptance throughout the room, she nodded and stood. "We are called here to observe the proposal of Bill 19021, on the further segregation of the Wizarding World from its muggle counterparts. I am Amelia Bones acting head of the Wizengamot in lieu of Albus Dumbledore, we will being with the Ministry of Magic." She announced, her eyes peering inquisitively at the three.

"Thank you Madam Bones." The blonde man stated rising from his chair. "As this august body knows, the Wizarding World has many secrecy acts to prevent our citizens from revealing us to the wider world, in an attempt to prevent the witch hunts that occurred not too long ago. Recently the British Government has made those laws next to worthless by hiring wizards and witches and opening a school to educate those of our population that have been displaced. If this is allowed to continue, I fear it could be the end of our civilization as we know it." His voice was as silk as he addressed the audience, but Harry wasn't paying that much attention observing the crowd, watching them react to the man. "We hope that with this Bill we can cease this integration that may in the end cause our society great harm." The man bowed slightly at the applause he garnered before retaking his seat. With a nod from Madam Bones the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs stood and began his opening speech.

"Esteemed members… As you all know the Treaty of Kent gave the Wizarding government the right to be mostly autonomous in exchange for keeping its citizens policed and the Prime Minister of the British Government informed of what is occurring in the Wizarding World. We respect that autonomy, and have never tried to encroach on that right. However before and since the fall of the Dark Lord Voldemort." He was quieted by the gasp that rushed through the chamber. Not even some of the most hardened members of the DMLE spoke his name openly. "There has been a larger influx of magical citizens crossing into our side of the world and an even larger number of magical orphans being left in the non-magical world, and we have accepted them as we would any other British citizen. We established the Royal Junior Thetford Academy to educate these children that had fallen through the cracks into our world, in order to help them and give them a fighting chance in the world." He paused for breath, surveying what appeared to be a hostile crowd. "There are more than fifty thousand magical citizens living and working in the non-magical community, they make up a healthy portion of our population and will never be turned away by _our_ government." From that point on Harry lost most interest in the proceeding, but from his casual observations he noticed a large number of the Wizengamot appeared to be swaying to the Secretary's arguments. Harry hoped for a brief moment that he wouldn't have to actually say anything during the meeting, but alas. "We have with us one of the students from the Academy to testify about the schools effectiveness and general necessity." That was one of the other politicians with too long of a title, motioning to Harry as he spoke. Harry sighed and stood when motioned to do so.

"What is your name young man?" Madam Bones' voice was strong but gentle. Harry braced himself for the storm that was sure to follow saying just his name.

"My name is Harry James Potter, and I am a cadet at the Royal Junior Thetford Academy." He spoke with a strong voice, not showing the nervousness he was feeling. When the Wizengamot finally registered whom was actually speaking, pandemonium broke out. It took several bangs from Madam Bones' wand to quiet the crowd.

"If I may ask, how did you end up at this Academy?" There was a shocked curiosity to Bones' voice.

"My muggle guardians, with whom I was placed after my parents were murdered, lied to a recruiter for the Academy in an attempt to rid themselves of me. I have spent four years at the Academy and have never been happier." Harry said with a tight smile as the room focused on him.

"What sort of classes do you have at the Academy?" came a question from the far right of the gallery.

"When we were younger it was the common classes you would find at any primary school: math, writing, reading, and science. Because most of the student base are magical we also had basic potions lessons and lessons in magical theory. As we've gotten older the classes have progressed and we've been allowed to take classes on tactics and strategy, as well as more advanced magic classes that do not require wand work."

"Do students have hard times adjusting to the school when they first arrive?" Harry looked pensive for a moment.

"Some more than others, two of my roommates are squibs and have a hard time in general being around loads of magic users. Those purebloods and half-bloods who wish to attend the Academy have a hard time getting used to the manual work we have to do on a day to day basis. In general after a while the students do adapt to one another's strengths and weaknesses." Harry said motioning for any more questions.

"Why did your muggle relatives want you gone?" Harry sighed at the predictable question. Colonel Jameson made to rise and reprimand the man but Harry turned and told him it was fine.

"My muggle relatives were very hateful of magic and by connection myself for reasons I do not know. They saw magic as something freakish or an abomination of nature. In the end they never asked to take me in and from what they have said I was just left on their doorstop on the first of November." Harry sighed and ruffled his hair "My case is not terribly different to many of my classmates, who lost their parents in the war, or were rejected for being squibs, or had relatives abandon them once they were discovered as magical. This is why the Academy is necessary, because children fall through the cracks and end up in horrid environments that can be harmful to their growth." Harry finished his minor rant and returned to his seat after being prompted to do so by Madam Bones.

"Well done Potter, I think you just brought most of the chamber to our side in a few minutes." Jameson said with a chuckle as Harry relaxed in his chair while the Secretary took to the floor again. After another ten minutes of bureaucratic bullshit it came down to a vote.

"Esteemed members of the Wizengamot I now ask you to cast your anonymous vote, which will be collected and counted after the votes are cast." Madam Bones called out to the chamber, and motioning to the little box in front of each member. After another five minutes the votes were tallied. "The votes have been tallied and in a vote of thirty eight to twelve Bill 19021 has been struck down. That adjourns our meeting for today, thank you all for attending and please have a safe journey." She said as the courtroom began to empty. Harry and his group made a quick exit in case any of the opposition wanted to try something, but thankfully they made it back to their cars and back on the road without incident. There was very little discussed with Harry, but the boy thought about how difficult Hogwarts might be if there were some of these secessionists' children there in his year and above.

Well kiddies that there is the end of the longest chapter I think I've ever written for a fanfiction. I hope you all enjoyed this little show of how the magical population is reacting to the Academy. As always another thanks to the lovely Pixel and Stephanie Forever (Hard worked, under paid and badly worn out – Pixel) for being the beta of this fictional piece. Now that you've finished this lovely chapter, I'd like to make a recommendation to a fic that I just re-discovered that I enjoy immensely called 'Harry Potters Army: A Generals Lament' by Sharptooth. It is exceptional and something that inspired this fic.

Toodles.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone, I'm back again. The student debt hasn't killed me yet. As always please thank my lovely beta Pixel and Stephanie Forever, for putting up with me. (Its terrible folks… He just keeps me waiting here day in and day out for another chapter to review and Beta read… Spend most of my time playing chess with the voices in my head – Pixel)At the moment I am on spring break from college, which is the only reason this chapter is even done. I did mean to update faster, but I got caught by my finals and other end of the quarter projects, so I apologize. My schedule is far more flexible spring quarter, and I will have my laptop on me every other day for note taking purposes. So I'll probably be able to write a bit more in the upcoming months. Anyway please enjoy.

Northumberland, UK

28 July, 1991

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster's office.

To say that Albus Dumbledore was furious was like saying the UK had strict gun laws, it was a brutal understatement. As soon as he had gotten back from his conference with the International Confederation of Wizards he had been informed by an awestruck Amos Diggory that Harry Potter had shown up at the Wizengamot meeting and handily defeated the Bill proposing a break with the Muggle government the he, Dumbledore had spent so much time bringing to the floor. He brought up his web of monitoring charms he had kept on the young Potters health, making note that all of the charms were intact and not monitoring any form of distress. He frowned pulling up the half of his matric used to monitor the wards on Number 4 Privet Drive. He gasped as he stared at the shattered and broken remains of the blood wards and wards on the property. He had put enough power into the wards to last until Harry was eleven, unless he had left the property for two consecutive years. The boy himself was the anchor of the wards, and if he had left the property for long enough the wards broke.

"Albus?" He sprang into action, flicking his wand in a complex pattern to stow the ward matrix and turning to face the door and smoothed his beard.

"Come Minerva." He called, glancing around the room before turning back to face his Deputy.

"Have you heard the news Albus?" She seemed concerned as she took the proffered glass of brandy.

"Indeed, I hadn't thought that young Harry would have spoken in front of the Wizengamot like that." Dumbledore put on a straight face as his long-time friend stared him down.

"So you knew that he was at that school?" She obviously wasn't going to believe him.

"No I did not, in fact before today I believed him to still be at his aunt and uncles. It is disturbing that he managed to be away from that house for so long without my wards notifying me. However it is good to see him grown into such a fine young man." Dumbledore took a sip of his own brandy, watching Minerva's face as nodded.

"Indeed, being able to stand up and speak in front of so many people his elder is impressive, especially about such sensitive topics." There it was, the look in her eye had changed from calm to anger in less than a second.

"Sensitive topics?" Dumbledore cursed himself for letting Amos go before getting the whole story from him.

"Indeed, Albus, he spoke of his relatives during the session. About how they hated and despised magic, and how they never asked to take him in. Now can ye tell me Albus, why didya noot say that they had accepted him into their house and were treating him well if that obviously wasnna the case?" In anger her Scottish brogue came to the forefront

"I told you that so you wouldn't attempt to interfere with his placement. It was an unfortunate oversight on my part, I overlooked Petunia's obvious hatred of the magical world in favor of seeing the possibility that Harry would bring closure to her and be accepted. It was not uncommon in my day for orphans to be left on family members doorsteps, and they were accepted!" Dumbledore was angry, at himself and the Dursleys, mostly the Dursleys. "It needed to be done Minerva, the blood wards were his best means of protection. In his first year there they protected him six times, from Death Eaters and his fans alike!" Dumbledore was not fond of justifying his actions, but he could own up to them.

"Aye, I understand that Albus!" Minerva was nearly yelling at the old man "But ye coulda at least checked on the boy." With that she turned and strode from his office, leaving her brandy behind.

"Indeed I should have, at least to prevent this Academy from mucking up my plans." Dumbledore mumbled to himself, stroking the feathers of his Phoenix, Fawkes.

London, England

1 August, 1991

Charing Cross Road

Outside the Leaky Cauldron

Harry and his team were sitting in the back of a nondescript car outside of the famous wizarding pub that led into Diagon Alley. The sole missing member of the group was Walter who, of course, was not magical. Harry and Hannah had both decided that he was being very jealous at not being able to go to Hogwarts with them. In fact, they'd even noticed he'd gone out of his way to avoid them and was seen at the shooting gallery putting in some target practice with the pellet guns. There were around two dozen cadets heading into Diagon Alley in pairs and trios so as not to draw to much attention. The rest of the students that needed to, had done their shopping in the past few days, and that just left the youngest members. When it was finally their turn Harry and Hannah got out of their car and walked up to the Leaky and went inside, the scent of ale and stale smoke hitting them as they came through the door. The proceeded quickly under the watchful eye of the Corporal sitting at the bar, making sure nothing went amiss. Once in the back courtyard they were motioned to hold up by the group the Sergeant sitting on the side wall smoking a cigarette. "Hold up an wait for the rest of your group - since you're the last ones through the Lieutenant doesn't mind you all going through together." The man looked them over, "Do you all have your galleons? 'Member the Colonel doesn't want anyone going near the bank." The two nodded, clutching their small coin bags that were bigger on the inside.

"Yessir." Harry said, leaning up against the wall waiting for Flora and Hestia. The wait was only about three minutes before the twins came bustling through the door.

"What's up?" Hestia asked in a quiet, worried tone.

"Nothing, the Sarge here said to wait for you." Harry said in a reassuring voice. The Sergeant nodded before opening up the archway for them. Breathtaking was not a good enough word, Harry decided later, for his first proper glimpse into the Wizarding World. There were dozens of people milling about the street, ducking in and out of strangely named shops and complaining about things Harry hadn't a clue about.

"We'll grab robes first yeah?" Hannah asked the other three.

"Hestia can grab mine right sis? I have to go and grab a new set of scales for potions, I broke mine last week." Flora almost managed to get that out without looking abashed.

"Yah I will, but you shouldn't go it alone. Harry can go with you, I know he wants to grab some more potions ingredients anyway." Hestia missed the slight glare Hannah shot at her, however Hannah didn't miss the wink Flora sent at her sister.

"Sure, I need some more dry ingredients after last class. And we can stop and grab telescopes on the way." Harry said, completely oblivious to the facial expression his friends were throwing at each other.

"That's cool, we can meet up at Flourish and Blotts at half past the hour. I only need the Herbology book, but we might as well peruse yeah?" Hestia called over her shoulder as she led a reluctant Hannah towards Madam Malkins. The walk to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary was uneventful to say the least, but the two friends still took longer to get there than they should've. The Alley was very crowded and they kept stopping to look at the storefronts they passed, which included joke shops, second-hand stores, and a tea shop. When they reached the store there was only one other customer, a sallow faced man with long dark hair, and an overly large nose. They were greeted by an overly friendly, rather portly man.

"Hogwarts, you two?" He asked, nodding to them.

"Yessir, but we just need a few supplies and she needs another set of scales." Harry said, gesturing to Flora.

"That's easy enough." The man leaned under the counter, grabbing a set of scales and two sets of basic ingredients. "This should be enough ingredients to get you through the year, plus any mishaps, and any practice you want to do. Anything other ingredients will be given to you during class." He walked over to the left side of the store where a large cabinet was sitting, and returned carrying a set of scales. "That'll be five galleons and three sickles please." Harry handed over the money and they turned to leave the store. As they were leaving the other customer in the shop gave Harry a long look before turning to purchase his items. They walked back towards Madam Malkin's, with Harry motioning Flora over to the pet store across the street.

"I'll just be a moment." He told her before heading in. The shop was deserted but for the two women over by a pair of stools.

"For Hogwarts, young man?" The eldest of the pair asked, motioning him over to the stool farthest from the door.

"Yes ma'am." Harry hopped up onto the stool and stood still as the woman began looking him over and taking measurements.

"Excited?" She quested, sticking a few needles here and there.

"I am. Did you go to Hogwarts?" Harry tried to make small talk.

"Indeed I did, Ravenclaw class of 1934." She continued her rather boring chatter, and Harry jumped in when necessary, but he was rather glad when it was over. "You're finished lad, stop by the counter and I'll ring you up." Harry nodded as she went back into the shop, swishing her wand this way and that. In another ten minutes he was back outside and heading over to Magical Menagerie to meet with Flora. When he found her she was holding a small black and white kitten.

"Hey-yah Harry, meet Felix." Flora had the hugest grin on her face as she paid for the kitten and the other necessities, a small carrying case and some cat food.

"He is cute." Harry leaned over and stroked the small creature under its chin. "I'd like to go and look around Eeylops down the street for a minute before we go and meet with the others." Flora nodded, snuggling the kitten closer to her as they left the store. At the Owl Emporium Harry found the loveliest snowy owl, which he latched onto almost immediately. After a small debate with Flora about bringing an owl anywhere near her precious Felix, they departed the store with what they needed. As they left the store and entered the street they saw the Corporal that had been sitting at the bar making his way up the street. They met him as he was heading towards Flourish and Blotts.

"What's wrong sir?" Flora glanced down the street.

"Dumbledore and a half-dozen other people just walked through the Cauldron, we need to move now." He glanced around, motioning over a few of the other cadets. After five minutes there were eight other cadets in their group, including Hannah and Hestia. The Corporal explained the situation to them, "We need to move now. I don't care if they don't know we're here yet, but I'm not risking it." He motioned to the Sergeant who'd been leaning in the entryway. The man nodded, walking swiftly down a side passage, and out of sight.

"What's the plan sir?" Harry asked, glancing around the crowded street, easily picking the white bearded Headmaster out of the dozens around them.

"We're heading out of the exit on Carkitt Market, the one that leads out to Shaftesbury Avenue, the Sergeant just went to notify the Colonel, and the Lieutenant is already moving. Now follow me and try not to draw attention to yourselves." Unfortunately it was at that moment that a passerby noticed Harry, and declared it very loudly to the street. The Alley went deathly silent as all of the shoppers turned to the woman, and by proxy to Harry. Harry and Hannah instantly dropped a hand to their waists to pull out knives in a reflex action – wincing when they remembered they'd had to leave them in barracks. The pair shared a look of annoyance but also one of uncertainty.

"Well shit." The Corporal said, motioning to the cadets to move down the street. "Make like the Italian Army and retreat"

"Corporal, the British Army does not retreat – it makes a tactical withdrawal under constant fire" Harry said as he hurried at the front of the group. There was little to impede their sudden movement towards the crossroads where Knockturn Alley and Carkitt Market were. As they made their way quickly down the Alley Harry turned to see the group of wizards around Dumbledore quickly making to follow their group. "Move faster, Cadets!" The Corporal shouted at them before starting to holler at the crowds in front of them in an attempt to get them to move. They made their way down the side street, the crowd of wizards still in pursuit but the cadets were beginning to gain distance from them.

They made it down the Market Alley and into the bustling London street, where there were two cars waiting for them. They were in the vehicles and off down the road before the six wizards made it through the market place.

"Should we follow them Headmaster?" one extremely out of breath wizard asked.

"No, they are in muggle territory now, we cannot pursue. However Severus said Potter ordered ingredients for Hogwarts, it's an easy bet as to where he'll be in a month. Return to your business gentlemen, I will call if we need a different plan" The old man said, turning and disapperating into thin air.

So that's the chapter, it isn't as long as I wanted it to be, but I couldn't seem to get the pacing right. I hope to upload again within a two weeks of when this chapter goes up but you never know. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey all of you wonderful ladies and gentlemen, I am back once again with a new chapter. It surprises me too. My classes this quarter are much more intensive than last quarter, but a little less hard, so I'll probably be a little longer in updating than normal but I'll get it done. Anyway as always a loud and long round of applause to my lovely beta Pixel and Stephanie Forever. What a great sport for putting up with me right? Anyway, enough about that, the chapter awaits.

Thetford, Norfolk

2 August 1991

Royal Junior Thetford Academy

Conference room 12

The Cadets going to Hogwarts in the upcoming year were crammed into one conference room on the second floor of the Administrative building. Harry and his team were sat towards the door, facing Colonel Jameson at the far end. They'd been there for ten minutes, still awaiting a few more people. Once the Colonel deemed everyone was in, he began speaking. "Yesterday was, to say the least, a bad situation. I've been informed by the Queens advisors in the Wizengamot that Dumbledore was accompanied by six Aurors, under the claim that we were in Diagon to carry out a terrorist attack." He paused to let them take that in. "At the moment, Dumbledore is in some mildly hot water for what he did, considering there was no evidence, and he acted without the authority of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I am unsure as to what his motive was, but I can guess it was to take Cadet Potter from our ranks." He stopped again, as those in the room turned to Harry. "All of you in this room have chosen to attend Hogwarts, you are all going into the lion's den so to speak. Thankfully, Dumbledore seems concentrated on Cadet Potter, but be warned that his gaze may shift to you quite quickly." He hit a key on the laptop in front of him. A large display pooped up on the wall behind him. "These are the rules I expect each of you to live by while in that castle. Do not go anywhere without another Cadet, do not speak to a teacher without another Cadet knowing your whereabouts, and most importantly trust only your fellow Cadets." He saw them all nodding "Dismissed to lunch." On their way to the mess hall Harry and his team were talking about the Colonels briefing.

"It's a little extreme don't you think?" Hannah asked as they walked out onto the quad.

"Maybe, but we're dealing with the unknown here, and it's always good to be cautious." Hestia replied.

"Of course, but that doesn't mean we have to distance ourselves from everyone else." Hannah shook hair from her eyes "I mean part of Hogwarts is meeting new people, making friends."

"You're right, and we can still make friends, we just cannot trust them with everything. Today's friend is tomorrow's enemy, and we can't let anything go that might cause undue harm to the Academy or any of Her Majesty's interests." Harry spoke up, trying to step in before the conversation got heated.

"You sound like the Badge." Flora said with a smile, referencing the Sergeant Major that was their tactics teacher. "But you're right, we have to watch what we say, and where we say it. The Wizarding World is in an uproar at the moment, with Dumbledore becoming something of a vigilante, Malfoy still pressing the Wizengamot for the Academy to be disbanded, and what lingers of the movement for autonomy."

"Exactly, unfortunately that limits us to Cadets and former Cadets in who we can trust. Thankfully at last count there are five dozen Cadets and former Cadets at Hogwarts, including Ariel and Cedric. That gives us some advantages, but also a liability." They pushed their way into the Mess Hall as Harry continued "With that many people there are a lot more chances for security leaks, and more chance for Dumbledore to get a Cadet alone and question them. Not that there'd be anything he could learn that wasn't already public record, but just the thought worries me."

"I heard some scuttlebutt from Megan Jones, the redhead over there." Hestia nodded her head to a girl sitting on the far side of the hall. "She heard that there were rumors that Dumbledore was the one that first brought that bill about, the one you had to visit the Wizengamot for." She took in their disbelieving gazes, blushed and continued. "Her aunt is supposedly on the Wizengamot, and she heard tell that Dumbledore had handed the idea off to one of his proxies, who gave it to a friend, and so on."

"What would be the point though, he knows that the Queen would never allow them to have autonomy, and as far as the Colonel can figure out he didn't know I was at the academy. Besides he's a known advocate of further entwining the two worlds." Harry wasn't as willing to dismiss the idea as Hannah was, but he let the byplay continue.

"You know what the Badge is always saying, 'If a man seems too eager to offer up his hand, it's because he's got something up his sleeve.' He may seem like a proponent for muggle-born rights and for dissolving some of the harsher secrecy acts, but that may be a front he gives out. He's a pureblood wizard at heart and has enjoyed the benefits the current system gives him for a long time." Hestia was adamant in her conviction.

"Unless we have proof we cannot act on suspicion. If we do we cannot trust the results." Harry nodded at Hannah's point.

"I agree that there is something more going on here than meets the eye, but we need proof. Until then we must be cautious." Harry ended the conversation with that, and began to eat.

Thetford, Norfolk

29 August 1991

Royal Junior Thetford Academy

Armory

The cadets that were leaving for Hogwarts the following Sunday were gathered in the Arsenal, off to the west side of the dormitory building. The Cadets were stood around a large work bench type table, while a Private began handing out duffle bags. "You all have your Hogwarts robes and other equipment, now we're giving you the non-magical related items you might need. In each of these duffels is a half dozen sets of clothes, mostly the same as what you wear now." He gestured to their uniforms. "However you all also get a set of fancy clothes, dress shirts and slacks for guys, and dresses for girls. There is also two sets of casual wear, nothing special but it'll help you all blend in a bit better." He looked up at them as he finished laying out the duffle bags, they were all desperately trying to pay attention, since they knew what gear they'd be getting from the older Cadets that had gone to Hogwarts. "Now, the new items you'll be getting this year are simply because the Colonel isn't too happy with what's happening in the magical world. All of you will be getting a small neck knife, that you are to carry around with you at all times while in the magical world. The second item is what the boys in R&D have termed a com-link, it's all very sci-fi with them." He pulled out a small device that looked a bit like a walkie-talkie. "This is transmit over a fifteen kilometer area meaning any other com-link in that area will be queued in, and transmits an encrypted signal that a chain of radio operators will re-transmit to Dreghorn Barracks in Edinburgh, which will then be transmitted to us via an encrypted sub channel in the SAR network and other magical bodies that answer to the Queen first, and foremost."

"Sir?" Hannah piped up from beside Harry, and at the Private's nod continued. "What about the magical interference? Shouldn't that keep those com-links from transmitting anything?"

"Under normal circumstances yes it would, however the R&D team that came up with the com-links also came up with a runic array that, if scribed in lead, will render magical interference null to electronics unless it is hit directly with a spell. Now the last item that the Colonel wants kept on you at all times is this." He showed them all a silver coin that had small copy of the Academy's crest engraved on it. The crest itself was really an over glorified United Kingdom flag with a scroll open in front of it with the motto of the Academy written on it. "This is an emergency pass-worded portkey, the password is IIGHFL9JA, in phonetics. This is only to be used if you are pinned to the wall and in serious danger, and if one is activated they will all activate, and you will be ported to the entrance hall here. They were all made by a Hogwarts professor, so they will ignore the wards as if they weren't there. Now take your gear and get out of my face." He grinned as they all scampered off.

London, England

1 September 1991

Kings Cross Station

Platform 7

The Cadets attending Hogwarts were split seamlessly into groups of five and were making their way to the entrance of Platform 9¾. There were a couple of wizards on duty watching the platform entrance, making sure no one broke the Statute of Secrecy to openly. Harry pushed his hat brim down, covering his scar and obscuring his eyes as he made his way past the man 'subtly' watching the groups of children running through a wall. Harry turned and nodded to the four next to him, and they casually made their way up to the wall and stepped through.

On the other side was a steam filled platform with a sleek red steam engine sat upon its tracks. They quickly moved into the train towards the back, nodding to other passing Cadets as they found a mostly open compartment. The Cadets had been told to try and remain in the same train car as they could, in order to be closer to one another if something went wrong. Harry was the first person into the compartment, warmly hugging the person inside. "'Ello Ariel."

"Hey Harry, it's so good to see you all." She replied, motioning for them to stow their gear away.

"It's been too long." Hannah moved in for her own hug.

"I know, I wanted to come back for the summer at the least but my parents were actually in Britain for once, and they ended up staying the whole summer. It's somewhat of a record for them." Ariel blushed, from what Harry had been told, she ended up at the Academy because her parents were never around, and so he kind of got her embarrassment. The Academy had an odd policy about Hogwarts students, they could come back for the summer and slip back into classes at about where they'd left off, or they could join into different classes. Some came back for the summers, some stayed with friends, and some stayed with their parents. That was the anomaly, since a lot of Academy students didn't have homes to go back to for the most part. Cedric and a few Cadets from the older families were a general exception, their families believed in teaching their children hard discipline, and for that there was no place better than the military.

"Hello lads" Speak of the Hufflepuff and he shall appear. Cedric rolled his luggage into their compartment and slung it into the luggage rack before dropping onto the bench. "Got the old team back together I see" He nodded to Harry and Hannah.

"Hey Ced, I don't think you've been introduced, this is Hestia and Flora Carrow. Guys this is Cedric, our old squad leader." Harry made the introductions short and sweet, nodding to each of the twins in order.

"It's nice to meet you both, looking forward to Hogwarts then?" Cedric leaned over and set his wand down next to him. The three first years gave various answers in the affirmative. "Any thoughts on what Houses you all want to be in?"

"I think I'd like to be in Ravenclaw, I've heard they have a small library in their common room, and the best view." Hestia almost drooled over the prospect of having a large amount of books within walking distance.

"I don't have much of a preference, as long as I'm not in Slytherin. Too many potential risks." Flora nodded at Hannah's words, then everyone looked over at Harry who had his back to the wall and was watching the door.

"I was thinking of Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff" Harry glanced around at his friends, "I mean from what I've seen most people tend to assume I'll be in Gryffindor" He caught a curious glance from Cedric, "There are a couple of older years that got to asking about my preferred house, and I saw some magazine article speculating the topic. I figure that if I'm not where they expect me to be, it'll focus their attention and in general upset their plans."

"Whose they, what are their plans?" Ariel was more than a little curious at this paranoia.

"Didn't you get briefed about Dumbledore's interest in the academy and me in general?" Harry wasn't sure if he should be worried or not, the Colonel had said he'd brief the other Cadets.

"No. I haven't received anything from the Academy since late June." Cedric was nodding along with Ariel's statement, a disgruntled look on his face.

"That's not good, that means communications have been disrupted and possibly intercepted. Hannah get on that new com-link that the Academy gave us and let them in on this new development, Hestia, Flora, go compartment to compartment and pass the word. I'll stay and brief Ariel and Cedric." Harry turned to his two older friends "So it started off with…"

A half an hour later and the two older Cadets were caught up, and the train was beginning to pull out of the station. "That's a lot to take in mate, I can believe it with what my da has been saying about Dumbledore's latest activity in the Wizengamot, but still..." He trailed off and stared out the window at the passing scenery. Harry nodded in understanding, glancing over at Hannah who was stowing her com-link back into the small bag she had under her seat. She glanced up at him and nodded grimly.

"They said that they had suspicions, but they need to get an idea of how many communications got intercepted. We're to continue on as normal, and stay vigilant." Hannah jolted as the door flew open, revealing a blond haired boy with a posh sneer and two rather thick looking boys behind him.

"What can we do for you lads?" Cedric asked politely, but with a small undercurrent of distaste.

"There'd been rumors up and down the train that Harry Potter was in this carriage, is it you?" His voice carried a lilt of distain as he glanced at Cedric.

"I'm afraid not, the names Brunel – Isambard Kingdom Brunel. This here is Heather, James, and Courtney." He motioned to Hannah, Harry, and Ariel in turn.

"The names Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. It's good to meet you." His polite tone was rather forced as he turned a sped down the hallway.

"James?" Harry has amusement in his voice "You couldn't do any better?"

"Hey it was on the fly, be glad I didn't give him your name. His father is Lucius Malfoy, one of the advocates for that bill you mentioned. If he'd figured that much out and told his father, the rest of us could have been compromised."

"Like that time we were compromised in the broom cupboard?" Ariel asked with a bemused eyebrow raised.

"Why were you in the broom cupboard?" asked Harry.

"Refreshing our E and E techniques" Cedric shot an annoyed look at Ariel.

"Oh" said Harry, "Well, thanks for that, it's good to see at least some of the training we got hasn't completely rusted over." Hannah nudged him playfully as she got up to grab something from the sweets trolley that had just gone by. As she exited, Flora and Hestia came back in, affirming that they'd spread the word as best they could.

"Anyone that we didn't catch probably got Hannah's message. They all said they'd pass it along as best they could." Flora sat down with a slump as she unwrapped a chocolate frog. "We've got a long way to go Harry, how about a game of chess?" Harry pulled out a small travel board and set it up on the seat next to him and motioned for her to join them. Flora moved over and scrunched Cedric up against the door of the compartment as she took the black side of the board.

Almost six hours later and they were beginning to pull into the station at Hogsmead, they unloaded and separated into the first years and the second years as Cedric and Ariel walked over to the horseless carriages, and Harry, Hannah, Flora, and Hestia walked down to a little dock where a giant of a man was motioning them to go. They all crammed into one boat and were off across the smooth black water, they saw the light reflecting off of the water in front of them before they actually saw the castle itself. It was, in a word, awe-inspiring. There was a collective gasp that enveloped the first years as they saw the massive stone castle atop its rocky hill, lights from hundreds of torches flickering through the large window panes.

They bumped rather abruptly against a small jetty that was hidden in a cove of rocks. They emptied out of their boats and onto the cobble path, following the giant of a man up to a large double door, where he raised a ham sized fist and knocked thrice.

"You know" Harry said as he thought about the boats and how fragile they looked, "I'll never say a bad word against the Navy again"

Well that was the chapter everyone, I'm going to be extremely busy for a few weeks, so I might not be able to work on the next chapter as much as I would like. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed it, feel free to leave a review. Also, please go and look at the works by my long suffering beta, Pixel and Stephanie Forever, in order to reward him for everything he has done for me so far regarding this story. Yes, I know… I am but a mere mortal when it sizes up this this legend and god of fanfiction. I can only hope and dream I may be half as good as he is… (Pixel wrote that last bit, they're very humble don't you think? But in all seriousness do check out his work, it's some of my favorites. – Writer of Olde.)


	10. Chapter 10

Hey everyone, good news for once. I'm about four weeks from graduation, at which point I'll have about three months of free time to write. Until the summer however my updates will continue to be far and few in-between. As always please be sure to thank my beta Pixel and Stephanie Forever, who has been the most patient person with my odd writing habits and schedule (Pixel: Pixel's brain sort of stopped working which is why this chapter took so long to do – luckily, they fixed the fault and I am as happy as a Luna Lovegood on sugar). I'm trying my best to get chapters completed earlier, but this last quarter of school has been brutal (Damn you Anthropology!) and I've been trying to work on my original fiction a little. I hope you enjoy the chapter and I'll see you at the end.

Northumberland, UK

1 September 1991

Hogwarts Castle

Entrance Hall

Harry and the rest of the first years peered at the door as it opened, revealing an imposing stern-faced woman. She wore a light green robe and atop her head was a pointed hat. "Thank you Hagrid" she spoke to the giant of a man as she ushered them inside. "If you'll all give me a moment" She waited till they had quieted. "I am Professor McGonagall and I teach Transfiguration here at this school. Now in a moment I will lead you all into the Great Hall, where you will be sorted into your houses. During your time at Hogwarts you will live, eat, and attend classes with the students in your house. They will be like your family, and any bad behavior on your part will cause your house to lose points, on the other hand outstanding behavior will earn you points." She turned and led them into a small chamber off to the opposite side of the hall. "I will be with you again momentarily" She strode back out the door and into the Great Hall.

"Well, ready to face the music Hannah?" Harry whispered to his friend out of the corner of his mouth, smiling slightly at the nervous faces around him.

"Yeah… Although I was thinking these walls wouldn't take more than one or two RPG hits. Let's see how this goes shall we?" She chuckled as a short red head started talking about how one of his brothers had said something about fighting a troll.

"What a numpty." Flora said with a giggle of amusement, nodding her head to the left where the boy stood.

"Indeed, as if parents would let their kids come here if they had to fight a troll. It's bloody…" Harry was cut off as two girls towards the back of the room shrieked in surprise. In an instant Harry and his squad-mates turned on a heel, there arms coming up in a defensive stance. They relaxed immediately when they saw it was just the school ghosts popping through the wall. Fortunately the rest of the first years seemed not to have noticed the group's reaction time.

"I must say my dear Friar that we have given Peeves more than enough chances, we must come down harder on him, lest someone get hurt." This came from an elderly looking ghost, with a cheery smile on his face.

"I know that as well as anyone, however everyone must be allowed a chance, and even if we wanted to come down harder on him how would we? The only one he listens to with any reliability is the Baron. The Baron will only interfere if…" The portly ghost trailed off as he noticed the large group of first years below them. "Ah the first years! I had forgotten the date, I must welcome you all to Hogwarts and I hope to see you all in my house, good old Hufflepuff." He winked and floated up through the ceiling, following his other opaque companions.

"If you'll all follow me now." Again they jumped as McGonagall reentered the room and held it open for them to file out through. They entered a large room with candles floating throughout and the roof enchanted to look as if it was open to the heavens.

"It's enchanted to look like the sky" Harry heard the bushy haired girl in front of him telling the girl next to her. He tuned her out for a moment as he took in the room. Four large tables spanned the room, with a fifth set slightly higher. To his left were tables filled with Slytherin and Hufflepuff students while to his right were the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students. The teachers took up the table at the far end of the hall, with Dumbledore sitting on what could only be described as a throne. He smiled benignly at the children as they walked toward a three legged stool with a tattered wizard's hat on it. As they stopped their approach, a mouth of sorts opened at the brim of the hat, and it began to sing.

 _Oh you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me._

 _You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all._

 _There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be._

 _You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;_

 _You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;_

 _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;_

 _Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends._

 _So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!_

The room burst into raucous applause as the hat finished its song, and McGonagall took her place next to the stool. "When I call your name, you will sit on the stool and you will be sorted." She took a long scroll of parchment and began to call out names. "Hannah Abbott" Harry nodded encouragingly to her. She walked forward with her head held high, and sat on the wobbly stool as the hat descended over her eyes. She sat for a moment before the hat called out, "GRYFFINDOR" The house of the lions began screaming their approval as she walked over to them and took her place towards the end of the table. The next half dozen students were called forward, and Harry made sure to note who they were and where they went but ultimately wasn't paying attention. He snapped up when he heard Flora's name called out. She moved quickly as she walked from the back of the group to the sorting stool. The hat took considerably longer than it had with some, but ultimately called out "RAVENCLAW". She made her way quietly over to the house of the Ravens, her face pensive. Harry made a note to ask her about that later. Hestia was next and took a considerably shorter time than her sister, eventually being sorted into Hufflepuff. Her smile was as large as it normally was, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. Then Harry must had to wait, and wait, and wait. Until finally Parvati Patil had made her way over to the Gryffindor table, and his name was called. He did his best to show none of the nerves he was feeling as he approached the teachers table. As he sat there McGonagall dropped the hat onto his head, and it slipped over his eyes.

"So, another one of these 'Cadets' eh? And the famous Mister Potter this time. Your whole band would have done well in Slytherin, as I told Ms. Carrow. You however will go on to do a great many things Mister Potter, and nowhere in this school will that be easier for you to accomplish than in Salazar Slytherin's house. However I suspect that much like Ms. Flora, you will be willing to fight me on that placement no?"

"I'd not only fight you, but I'd end up putting you in a washing machine"

"I believe I would like to see you try"

"With detergent" Harry said and he got the distinct impression the hat shook violently with fear.

"Alright… Alright…" the hat said. "You'd much rather be in… Gryffindor… with the young Ms. Abbott. Well I can certainly see why, do take heed not to be too dense in the matter if you please"

"You can read my mind"

"Yes – though I have to say it is kind of roomy in here"

"Get! Out! Of! My! Mind!"

"I have the power and right to read your mind in order to sort you best"

"Not today…" and Harry projected the thought of him taking the hat and introducing it to a pair of sharp scissors"

"Fine you petulant child! Very well – better be GRYFFINDOR!" The last was shouted for the hall to hear, and as Harry began walking to where Hannah was sat he began contemplating the sorting hats words. 'Not too dense in this matter' what the bloody hell does that mean. He shook his head and turned to Hannah, intending to ignore it for the time being and simply be happy sitting next to his best friend. He nodded to Hestia and Flora where they sat, and turned to the teachers table where Dumbledore was rising.

"Hello all of you, returning students and new students alike, and welcome to another wonderful year at Hogwarts. I'll have to continue my announcements after your all fed and watered, lest there be riots. Without further ado, pip squiggle pop and squeak." With that odd combination of words, mountains of food began appearing at all spots on the table not occupied by a student. Bowls of mashed potatoes, plates of grilled fish, platters of shepherd's pie, and flasks of pumpkin juice. Harry and Hannah left conversation for the moment and began filling plates, trying to add some vegetables to their plates, but finding very little in the mix. They tried to find some other sorts of fruit juices, but ended up drinking water as neither of them liked the Pumpkin Juice. The two friends allowed themselves to indulge when they spotted Chicken Kiev – both were very partial to it back at the Academy. After ten minutes of eating, they turned and began talking in hushed voices about the next steps.

"We'll have to find a way to meet up with the others in a discreet fashion. Probably bi-weekly intervals, before breakfast if we can manage." Hannah was saying, taking sips from her goblet as they talked.

"We'll have to give it a day or two to learn the routine, see when people wake up, and begin learning the layout of the castle. If we're lucky these first few days nobody will be up as early as we usually are. We'll also have to find a good spot to meet." Harry was pondering the few locations that they'd seen so far. "Nothing usable yet, we'll have to use class tomorrow to pass the word to Flora and Hestia."

"We'll have a hard time getting them alone without it rousing suspicion. From what the Colonel said, houses don't interact much." Harry nodded, sitting back from his plate to think. He was forced to stop when the food simply disappeared and was replaced by dessert. Harry was almost instantaneous in reaching for the treacle tart, while Hannah reached for a Bakewell tart. After another five minutes or so of feasting the dishes cleared and Dumbledore stood once again.

"Now that we've all enjoyed this wonderful feast, I must take a moment to remind you that the Forbidden Forest will continue to be, forbidden. Mr. Filch has kindly reminded me that there is a list of banned items on the door of his office should one wish to peruse them. Finally I must ask that all students stay away from the third floor corridor on the right hand side, as it is forbidden to all but those that do not wish to die a painful death." He paused as everyone began looking at one another in a panic. "Now off to bed, all of you." Harry and Hannah followed a rather pompous looking red-head out of the Great Hall, and up a large amount of stairs. He kept prattling on about staircases and how they liked to change. Throughout the whole of the trip, Hannah and Harry had a whispered conversation about what could be in the third floor corridor. They decided to ignore it to the best of their abilities.

They reached a long corridor with a painting of a large lady, dressed in a pink nightgown. "Hello Gryffindor's" Her voice was soft, and she had a kind demeanor about her.

"Hello Lady, caput draconis." The red-head was the one that spoke. "Thank you" He muttered as the portrait swung open. Once they were in the lightly lit common room he turned to them, "That was the fat lady, the portrait that guards our common room. To enter you need the password, which changes month to month. See me, another prefect, or professor McGonagall if you need to know the password. The boys dormitories are located up those stairs on the left, the girls is on the right. Do not enter another genders dormitory without permission from one of the residents." He nodded to them and went over to one of the overstuffed armchairs near the fireplace. Harry nodded to Hannah as they split up to go to their dorms. Once Harry was in the boy's dorm he was greeted by two of the other boys that had been sorted.

"Hello, I'm Seamus and this is Dean. It's good to meet you." Seamus held out his hand, which Harry took and shook.

"It's good to meet you as well, excited for class?" Harry was trying for polite conversation.

"Yeah, I'm just bursting to learn some magic. I'm a muggleborn you see, so I just can't wait." Dean was bouncing from one foot to the other. Harry nodded, with a light grin forming on his features.

"I'm excited as well, but I wish we could play quidditch our first year." Seamus had the same air of excitement around him, but it was undercut by a bit of disappointment.

"I'm just sad they don't have any sort of football club, that's what I'm going to miss." Harry and his squad often played a few footie games on the weekend with the other cadets. He was going to miss the exercise.

"Maybe we can rig something up, I don't think I can wait till June to play another game." Dean looked downright thrilled that there was someone else that liked football.

"You support West Ham?" Harry noticed a posted Dean attached to one wall.

"Yeah"

"Then perhaps you can explain why they lost to Notts County"

"It was only two goals we lost by" Dean frowned.

"You still lost" Harry pointed out. "From what I heard and read in the paper, you'll be hard pressed to beat QPR"

"We'll beat them easily" Dean protested with a laugh.

"Winning one out of four games…" Harry shrugged as he opened his trunk. "I predict that you will be relegated by the end of the season"

"God…" Dean groaned, "Not another United supporter"

"As much as I would love to listen to Match of the Day, I'm going to head to bed you two, it's been a long day." Harry and Dean nodded in agreement to Seamus' statement, both going for their trunks that were set at the foot of four poster beds. Ten minutes later and the three were settled onto their beds, Harry with a book open and the other two with their curtains drawn. With a small creak the door opened and Neville, if Harry was getting the name right walked in, Harry nodded to him and gestured to the other two beds. The boy nodded in understanding and quietly got ready for bed. It wasn't another minute when the door banged open and Ron Weasley walked in. Harry could see Dean sit bolt upright at the noise.

"Why's it so dark?" The boy asked.

"Racist" Dean muttered.

"Maybe cause we're tryna fecking sleep." That was Seamus' drowsy mumble.

"C'mon it's our first day at Hogwarts, you can't sleep just yet." The boy obviously didn't have to wake up early to get to Kings Cross that morning.

"Bugger off, it's been a long damn day. Get changed and go to bed." That was Dean, angrily punching his pillow before laying back down.

"Fine" He seemed to have accepted defeat, as he walked into the bathroom to change. Harry lay back and stared at the dark wood panel at the top of his bed, before taking off his glasses and closing his eyes.

I'm sorry this is so late, it's almost my finals week and I'm desperately trying to graduate in a few weeks. Thankfully after another few weeks the only thing impeding my writing will be myself and work. I'm going to try and include Dean and Seamus a bit more than was done canonically, I think there is a lot of untapped potential there.

Thanks again to Pixel and Stephanie Forever, for putting up with me, and giving me a kick in the ass on occasion to finish a chapter. Please do check out some of their work. I'll see you all next year.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey everyone so glad you could join me for this new chapter, a bit of notification before we begin. I have finally graduated, so my time is for the most part my own, except for the second job that just fell into my lap. Thankfully the second job is relatively non-time consuming, but it will still take time that I had planned to dedicate to my own writing and to this fanfiction. I will be working on this throughout the summer but it may not be at the rate that I wanted to be cranking out the chapters, I hope that you all enjoy this next chapter. δ Also meet my new paragraph divider, because I just found out the ones I used previously didn't stay when I posted the chapter.

Northumberland, UK

24 September 1991

Hogwarts Castle

Great Hall

To say that their first few weeks of pure magical education at Hogwarts had gone by quickly was correct. They had been in the magical castle for three weeks, and had since then developed an opinion of the teachers and the material that their courses covered. Harry and his friends were disappointed in the slack curriculum that was offered compared to the Academy, and the teacher's demeanor in general. Harry and Hannah's Head of House and the Transfiguration teach, Professor McGonagall was strict and brief in her instruction. She was also fair compared to some of the other teachers when it came to the house of a student. She wouldn't overtly favor Gryffindor over another house, but on occasion it seemed some of her house were favored over others. Harry and his squad had decided that it was most likely unintentional, but it still irked them. Transfiguration as a subject had been one of Hestia's favorites when they were at the Academy, and once she was able to actually practice the magic she began earning more than a few house points. Charms was quickly becoming one of the cadets favorite classes, with the material being interesting and the teacher making the curriculum interesting and being fair to all of his students. Herbology was taught by the jovial and down to earth Professor Sprout, she was more interested in the safety of her student in the greenhouse and teaching than giving out points, and Harry and his friends really did like her as a teacher.

On the other hand, Professor Binns was the ghost that taught History of Magic, yes a ghost. **A GHOST**. Not only could the teacher not seem to be able to move on from the topic of Goblin rebellions, he also failed to keep the students from using his class as a nap period. Flora and Hannah were actually rather angry at that fact, since they were the ones that liked History as a subject. Harry normally managed to stay awake for these and Flora, Hannah and himself would spend some of the lesson drawing up battle plans for the Goblins, and fighting it out on scrap parchment. The other teacher that really bothered the group was Professor Snape, the potions teacher. There was no way to express the amount of dislike that they had for that greasy bat. The moment they were in the door for the first lesson the man was upon them, calling out Harry specifically as 'the newest celebrity'. He then continued by questioning Harry on potions that were not in the first year curriculum, some of it dipping into the sixth year material. Unluckily for the professor Harry had been reading ahead since they had been introduced to Potions at the Academy, and he calmly answered all of the man's questions. After that Snape had retreated to his desk and given them the instructions for the Boil Cure potion. The rest of the professors were rather unremarkable, mainly teaching their subject and then sending the first years out of the classroom.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was a class that put them all on their guard, there was something off about the teacher. His stutter wasn't consistent, he did his best to ignore his students, and he had this air around him. It wasn't friendly, it wasn't anger, it wasn't calm, and it wasn't indifference. It was something indescribable, but Harry knew he didn't like whatever it was. There was also the smell of garlic hanging around him which caused Hannah to have a bit of a reaction. During the break after that lesson, Harry had gone with her to the Hospital Wing to see what could be done for her. Luckily, the Nurse there was able to stop the allergic reaction and gave Hannah a couple of potions to take so she could adapt to the smell of it and also be able to eat it. At the moment Harry and Hannah were having breakfast in the Great Hall, cramming a few more centimeters of writing into their History of Magic essay that was due in an hour or so. They had been up early with Hestia and Flora doing a few laps around the lake before the rest of the school was awake. They hadn't gotten many laps in, the lake was significantly larger than the track they ran at the Academy and far less flat, so they managed about a kilometer and a half before stopping for the morning. They had all retreated to their dorms after to shower, and Harry and Hannah had made it back to the Great Hall quicker than the other two. There were only a half a dozen people in the Great Hall that early, with only one older Gryffindor sitting at the far end of the table. Another ten minutes went by before the Twins came back to the table and sat down. They pulled over toast and some fruits and dug in, making some light conversation with Harry once he set his essay down.

"Ready for another day of shite classes?" Flora was ever the optimist.

"History in the morning followed by Defense and double Potions this afternoon? This will be a good day to study for other classes." Hestia wouldn't normally say something like that, but the lack of anything interesting happening in those classes was starting to get to her.

"We need to sort out a better way of getting through those classes, History and Defense can be self-study, but it's hard to study Potions without a potion lab. We'll take a look around after class, and ask Cedric and Ariel if they know a better spot to practice. For now we keep moving on." Harry brought an end to that conversation as more and more students began trickling in from their dormitories. They all seemed to be talking excitedly about a notice that had been on the board, Harry hadn't seen it on his way out and asked the rest of his friends if they had.

"Yes I saw it, something about flying lessons going on tomorrow. I'd have to check when it is exactly…" Flora trailed off as Ron Weasley rounded the corner through the door and laid eyes on her and Hestia.

"What are you two doing over here?" He sneered at them, or well he tried, it came off as more of a pained grimace.

"Having breakfast with a few friends Weasley - what's it to you?" Flora wasn't afraid of the youngest Weasley boy.

"You can't sit here, it's the _Gryffindor_ table, as in for our house only." His ignorance almost made Harry laugh, almost.

"I thought that, as this is Hogwarts, surely this is the Hogwarts table" but this bit of out of the box thinking clearly went over the boy.

"Firstly, they can sit anywhere we want unless it's at one of the Special Feasts. Secondly, even if that wasn't in the rules specifically they'd sit here anyway. Thirdly, we invited them. Fourth and lastly, it would take a lot more than you to scare them away from the table. Now, I have a slice of toast in my hand and I am not afraid to use it" Hannah was not happy in the mornings, made doubly so by the large amount of people around. So her tone was less than kind when addressing Ron. He opened his mouth and closed it again before turning on a heel and walking away from the group. Harry saw the other three boys from his year glancing at them questioningly. He waved them over with a friendly smile on his face.

They pulled up seats and began loading their plates, exchanging a few pleasantries before tucking into their food. Once they had gotten through a fair portion of their plates, the flying lesson came up. "Tomorrow at one I think it said, you guys excited?" Seamus asked from towards the far end of their small group.

"I think it'll be interesting, I've never been on a broom before so I don't know how I'll do." Dean was in the process of putting jam on his toast, a contemplative look in his eye. "Mind you, I've done a fair amount of roller coasters so I don't mind heights that much, but we'll see how it goes I guess." Neville blushed in what Harry assumed was embarrassment before speaking.

"I'm a little t-too clumsy for brooms, the f-f-few that I've been on I've fallen off o-of. I'm not sure I want to att-attend, but I'd be willing to give it a-a try I think." Neville was a relatively shy boy, with a lot of confidence issues as far as Harry could tell. He would try to fix that over the coming years.

"I think it'll be fun, and don't worry Neville. If anything goes wrong Madam Hooch will be there, and so will we." Harry tried to be reassuring, and he thought it worked from the way Neville seemed to relax. The rest of their conversation was cut short by Professor Flitwick passing by.

"Twenty points to each of your houses, for encouraging inter-house relations. It's always good to see students from other houses getting along." He smiled at them all, and continued walking up to the staff table.

"That was a nice way to start the day." Hannah remarked with a smile before picking up her bag and walking towards the door.

δ

Hours later in the day Harry found himself standing out on the grassy lawn between the castle and the Quidditch Pitch, beside him Hannah was doing her best not to be nervous and Neville looked like he was going to puke at any second. He pushed his attention to the instructor as she began to speak.

"Good afternoon, I am Madam Hooch the resident flying teacher of Hogwarts and Quidditch referee. Now I want all of you to put your dominant hand over the broom and say UP. Quickly now." Her voice was stern and her gaze made Harry feel like he was back at the Academy with the physical fitness teacher. Harry stared at his broom for a moment before commanding it upwards. It worked very well he thought, considering most of the class had yet to get their brooms to do more than roll around. Hannah and Draco Malfoy were the exceptions, Hannah had done as he had and commanded the broom into her hand, and Malfoy was just smirking haughtily at the world.

"Don't ask it Neville, command it - demand that it rise to your hand. Be confident." Neville glanced up at Harry and nodded before trying to do just that, and it worked. Mostly. The broom made it to his hand, but it was a slow and jerky rise. "See, just be more confident." Harry smiled at the pudgy faced boy before turning back to Hooch.

"Now I want you to mount your brooms, then on my whistle you will kick off from the ground, hover for a moment then touch back down. Trust in yourselves and in your brooms to get you there and back or this won't work." She turned her steely gaze upon them as they did as she asked. Harry threw a leg over his broom, getting a nod from the stern instructor as he did so. She brought the whistle to her lips once she saw that they had all managed that task, blowing hard.

Neville was off like a rocket, shooting fifty feet into the air before corkscrewing off into the distance. Hooch muttered more than a few choice words under her breath before grabbing a broom from a Slytherin first year and shooting off after the boy. They could barely make him out in the distance as the broom took him for a ride of its own design, but watched as best they could as he swooped back towards the castle diving up and around the towers before coming to a dead stop mid-air. More than a few of the girls on the ground screamed as they saw the boy lose his grip and go flying forward as the broom came to a complete stop. Luckily for Neville, Madam Hooch came soaring out from behind Gryffindor Tower to catch him before he got too much falling momentum. When they landed Neville was swarmed by most of the Gryffindors that were in the class, and more than a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. "I'll be taking you to Madam Pomfrey immediately, just in case. The rest of you may head to the Great Hall for lunch" she said with a mixture of disgust and anger. "Leave the brooms where they are."

δ

Neville had been very fortunate, something that Albus Dumbledore was grateful for. What he was not grateful for was the increasing amount of flak he was getting for allowing such a situation to occur. Everyone knew that the older a broom got the more spirited it got, for lack for lack of a better word. It didn't help when he tried to pass it off as Hooch's responsibility, and was promptly shown the parchment baring his signature denying her the funds to buy new brooms. He had protested and argued, and done everything short of throwing a tantrum, and it hadn't worked. The Board of Governors was stationing someone at his school to interview his students and poke his nose into the inner workings of Hogwarts, they had given him the man's name, but he didn't recognize the name O'Connell.

"I will have to move the Philosophers stone into my office for the time being, no sense in letting the man be too suspicious not that my dramatization at the opening feast will not do that. I'll have to strengthen the protection on the door leading into the corridor as well, well enough that a student could not bypass it." Dumbledore sighed sipping at the glass of scotch he held in his hand. He stood as the last of the natural light left his office, inwardly bemoaning the amount of work he was about to set off to do.

δ

A/N:

That there is the end ladies and gentleman, at least for now. I'm going to be pretty busy for the next week or so, but I'll do my best to make sure I get the next chapter at least partially completed. I'll give the first reviewer that guesses O'Connell's identity correctly a… cookie? *Turns to Pixel* Can we afford cookies? Anyway that all for now folks apart from suggesting you go to Pixel's Harry Potter/Thomas The Tank Engine crossover which is actually very good

Pixel: We can afford just the one cookie – Flitwick came round half an hour ago and stole the others. For such a small person, he sure is a speedy little bugger!


	12. Chapter 12

Hey everyone I'm not dead, sorry for the confusion. I'm sorry that it has taken so terribly long for me to update but my lovely beta took a hospital break, and I started university. There's not much time for me to write at the moment but I'm doing what I can. Before we get into this chapter in detail, do take a moment to thank the ever patient 'Pixel and Stephanie Forever' for being such a lovely person and beta reading this work. Thank them by going and reading some of their fiction, I've been enjoying the story 'Friendship and Honour' and would recommend it.

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Northumberland, UK

11 October 1991

Hogwarts Castle

Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom

Harry was, in more than a few words, uncomfortable. The room was staggeringly hot, whilst the weather outside promised more snow to add to the growing density that already lined the grounds. Add this factor into his migraine that seemed to start and end at the door to Professor Quirrell's classroom, and Harry was not looking forward to the rest of his Friday afternoon which would be spent in the dungeons. The upside of the day was that the Board of Governors appointed 'Inquisitor' would be entering the castle later tonight, and Harry was willing to bet that the man was the same O'Connell that had retrieved him from Number 4 that day so long ago. It would be nice if it was, unless something pressing came up they rarely heard from the Academy, so having a man that was able to be a go-between would be sensational. Harry and the rest of the cadets were in something of a limbo, they were not trained well enough or old enough to be given missions or pass intelligence, but they were at the same time in the best place to do so. None of the teachers suspected them of anything, at least none of the first years like Harry and his team. Some of the older cadets were under some scrutiny from Dumbledore, mostly because they'd revealed themselves long ago as cadets. Most of the younger crowd of students were not going to say anything unless approached directly. It annoyed Harry to some extent, there was something going on at Hogwarts, the infamous third floor corridor suddenly becoming locked off to the school, despite testimony from older students that there was a Cerberus behind the locked door. He sighed quietly, skimming over the page in front of him for perhaps the fifth time that lesson, it was mostly review for him and the other cadets anyway.

"Class, for next week have a-a f-ffoot-long essay on the various d-dar-dark creatures c-covered in this last chapter, and note to me th-the ones you f-feel could be the m-mo-most dangerous." Quirrell did not look up from his parchment as he dismissed the class, something that had become normality for his class. The Cadets in the class could not help but wonder what the hell the man was reading. Harry packed up his bag quickly nodding to Hannah as he made his way out of the classroom, heading for the third floor landing. They had a plan of sorts in place, Harry and Flora desperately wanted to see what was behind the door on the third floor, and Hannah and Hestia wanted to make sure they weren't caught. Simple really. Hannah was going back to Gryffindor Tower in order to give them an alibi if it was needed, and Hestia would be their lookout. They weren't happy with the plan, mostly because they were going against orders somewhat, keep out of trouble. Harry and Flora figured that if they were not caught then there would be no trouble.

"Harry!" The shouted whisper caught him off guard as he rounded the corner. Flora and Hestia were standing at the entrance to the Grand Staircase that led out of the fourth floor, just in time to grab him.

"What's going on guys?" Harry asked, glancing around in paranoia.

"We got out of Charms a little early and headed here first thing, Dumbledore and Hagrid were up here. The door has been enchanted a lot more heavily if what we saw was any indication, we couldn't figure out why Hagrid was up here though." Hestia looked a little worried, turning and leading them up towards the fifth floor where they had set up with Hannah to meet after.

"If anything we heard was true, the Cerberus was probably his. Which means that they're trying to cover up whatever Dumbledore was using the corridor for, probably because of this O'Connell guy." Flora nodded with Harry's explanation.

"That's what I thought, but since we cannot prove anything, well…" She trailed off, nibbling her lower lip nervously.

"I know what you mean, let's just hope that my suspicion about O'Connell is correct and we that might be gaining an ally here at Hogwarts." Harry pushed into the empty classroom that would serve as their neutral meeting ground for the time being. "Whatever Dumbledore has planned here can't be good, and is most probably directed at the Academy, the Cadets, or me specifically." Hestia frowned, pulling at her braid with a look of consternation.

"I just don't know what he could be aiming at you specifically, unless something comes up debating you as a ward of the crown." Hestia spoke slowly, puzzling things out. "He can't be trying to gain your loyalty, or if he is he's gone about it in a roundabout way. I do think he's trying to get something from you Harry, but I just can't see what." A triple knock came at the door.

"We'll worry about that later, for now the arrival of O'Connell seems to have stopped whatever plans the Headmaster may have had in place. We'll learn more at dinner, until then ladies." Harry bowed to his friends, walking out of the door and linking arms with Hannah, making it seem as though they had never parted after class.

δ

Dumbledore was more than a little unprepared for the arrival of this so called 'Inquisitor' he had been assured more time. His oldest friend on the Board of Governors, Tiberius Ogden, had assured him that O'Connell would not be arriving for another two weeks. Perhaps the man had finally had enough of Dumbledore, but it was unlikely. This presented a multitude of issues for the aging headmaster, the first of which was that he'd had to move the Philosophers Stone earlier than planned, and there was a greater chance that he'd been witnessed by a student. The second, perhaps larger issue, was that the man being sent was a squib. From what Dumbledore had learned in the weeks since the announcement of his placement at Hogwarts, it seemed the man had been born in Britain and had lived here for many years, and except for an incident with a mummy had no exposure to magic. It was unfortunate for two reasons, the man had no obvious ties to Britain besides family, and he had not attended Hogwarts, giving Dumbledore no obvious way to manipulate the man to see the headmaster as a guiding figure. The man was too independent as it was, he'd been around the world with muggle excavation teams, and had put down his fair share of mummies in that time. That was the part that was most peculiar to the aging headmaster, how could a squib have killed any mummy let alone dozens?

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Northumberland, UK

11 October 1991

Hogwarts Castle

The Great Hall

It was more than a little subdued at dinner that night, most students waiting to hear news of this 'Inquisitor' that the castle would be playing host to. Most students, but not all.

"His whole family are actually really famous adventurers" The bushy haired girl down the table from Harry was saying. "His father was in the French Foreign Legion stationed in Egypt, where they found that really powerful mummy back in the 20's. They're all muggles but they managed to put down the mummy themselves while the Egyptian ministry of magic was busy recovering from a revolution. Afterwards his parents were hired by the Egyptian ministry to keep a lookout for any new attempts at resurrecting powerful mummies." She stopped for breath, turning back to the few people that seemed interested, Harry included. "They succeeded again in 1933 with a different mummy, and again in 1946. After that there were a few attempts but they were always put down by ministry forces after they were deemed to be lesser dangers."

"How do you know all of this Hermione?" Dean who was sat across from her asked.

"They're a really well known family in England, China, and Egypt because of their work. Of course the muggle government doesn't say what they've done, just gives them medals for 'outstanding service to Crown, Country, and the World at Large. I think during the most recent one the Queen and Prince Phillip were present." She seemed to realize the amount of people drawn to her story and ducked her head.

"Prince Phillip? Doesn't he have more important events to go and be racist at then a medal ceremony?" Some un-named Gryffindor from down the table said out loud, causing laughter up and down the table.

Harry began to ignore the rest of the talk at the table and turned to his team, "We'll have to ask Granger if there is anything else she can tell us. Now that she mentioned it I do remember the name coming up in History class, but I'd have thought they'd have been dead by now." Hannah wore a sheepish grin at explanation.

"I agree, and not everyone we learn about in history class is dead Hannah." Hestia was quick to defend her favorite subject.

"Anyway the man should be here soon, probably by the end of the feast. Let's grab Granger in the common room after dinner and see if there is anything else she can tell us. Until we know more we play this by ear." Harry cut off the impending argument he saw brewing between Hannah and Hestia and went back to eating his roast potatoes. The others nodded and turned back to their own meals.

δ

The end of the meal was fast approaching and from what Harry could guess by McGonagall and Dumbledore's nervous looks at the door, O'Connell was about to arrive. He was proven correct four minutes before the end of dessert, when an older man with a slight gut and a receding shock of grey hair strolled through the doors of the great hall. Despite his apparent age, Harry felt a dangerous aura surrounding the man. The aura was not helped by the 9mm pistol on his thigh and the duffle bag that Harry was sure contained more weapons around his shoulder.

To his right there was a younger man, carrying two more duffle bags and a suitcase. They bore a striking resemblance to one another, they had the same eye color and general facial structure, though the younger man's face looked more Asian than the older mans. It took Harry a moment but he slowly began to recognize the younger man, it was the Lieutenant that had delivered him to the Academy all those years ago.

"Good evening gentleman, I was told to only expect one man this evening. May I enquire as to who you are?" Dumbledore had risen to greet them, and directed his question to the younger man.

"You may certainly enquire, but me giving you the correct answer is an entirely different matter… Sir, I am Winston O'Connell and this is my father Alex O'Connell. He is here to be the Inquisitor that the board of governors assigned, and I am here to make sure he takes his heart medication and is, in general, kept in good health."

"Surely we could have done that - there's no real need for another man" Dumbledore looked confused, something you didn't see often.

"Aye, however my wife is just a little more stubborn than I am, and convinced the Board of Governors that Winston here needed to tag along. Besides it'll do the kid some good to be out in the bright Scottish sunlight. HA!" The man gave a deep belly laugh at his own joke while Winston looked rather embarrassed.

"I assure you Professor Dumbledore, I will keep my presence in the castle as minimal as possible unless asked to do otherwise." Winston was quick to try and placate to headmaster.

"Very well, I will show you to where you two will be staying for the duration of your stay here at the castle, and will have some dinner brought up if you wish?" He glanced at both men who nodded their thanks and followed him from the hall.

As quick as he could Harry slipped out of the hall and began to head up towards where he knew the guest suites in the castle were. He got there just before the three men did, and stepped into the toilets down the corridor from the room. "We're just here to observe Dumbledore, with any luck we'll be gone in a fortnight and back to the dig site in Italy. My wife is there overlooking things along with Winston's Archaeology professor, nothing yet but we're sure to find something yet. Winston! Throw our kit in the bedrooms and get yourself set up, I'll just be a minute." Harry heard footsteps approaching the door to his hiding place, but they were far too heavy to belong to the Headmaster.

"Hello sir." Harry greeted as the elder O'Connell stepped into the bathroom.

"Ah Cadet Potter, here the Academy wanted this passed on to you." He handed a large yellow envelope to the young boy. "It's an information dump, everything that they think you need to know that's happening in the outside world. We'll be getting these to you every once in a while, is there anything that needs to get back to command now?" He seemed to fumble around with his belt for a moment while Harry grabbed the packet.

"Only a request for information, and further orders if it is applicable. Most of the cadets are chomping at bit a little with how slow it is around here. One of the Professors here has been putting us all on edge, there is something off about him, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was another player in this game that we haven't seen yet. We're not sure what is going on, Sir, but we've noticed that he drops his normal behavior when he thinks nobody is around" He trailed off as the man pulled his gun and put it to his side.

"One last thing before I go Potter, what's the most important part of servicing a car?" Harry gaped at the man for a moment before pulling himself together and running through his thoughts for the answer. "Only another moment Potter" The man growled as he cocked his pistol.

"The headlight fluid sir!" Harry gasped out, remembering the prank that the Lieutenant had played on a cadet the first day he's been at the Academy.

"Correct, wait a while before you leave, and burn that info when you've got it down."

Can't do that, Sir" Harry said to him

"Why not?"

"Don't learn burning spells until next week, Sir" O'Connell glared at the cheeky kid.

"Very well… Use this lighter to burn it" and he handed one over. Harry nodded in acceptance as the older man left.

Things it seemed, were about to get interesting.

δ

Alright then assorted human beings, that concludes chapter 12 of the fanfiction, I hope you've enjoyed it so let me know what you think. Thanks once again to my lovely beta Pixel, and my Biology professor for letting us leave a bit early today which allowed me to finish this off. I am truly going to do my best to continue writing through the school year, but once we get another couple of weeks in I will be hard pressed for time. I am not going to stop writing, but my updates might come slower than they have been. I apologize for this, but I'd prefer to post chapters that I am happy with rather than my first drafts. Until next time everyone!


	13. Chapter 13

Hello fellow human beings, and anyone else that happens to be reading. I'm currently back a University after my holiday break, and I hope that you all enjoyed the holiday season, no matter what you celebrate. I apologize both for the time it has taken me to update, and for the time it will take me to finish up the next chapter. I'm quite busy at the moment, and have all but stopped on my other projects, but not this one! I'll do my best to continue updating during the New Year, now that my lovely beta Pixel and Stephanie Forever has mostly recovered from their extended hospital stay. As always be sure to thank them by going over and reading some of their work. Now, on with the show.

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Northumberland, UK

14 October 1991

Hogwarts Castle

Gryffindor Tower

Life since the 'Inquisitor' had settled into Hogwarts had been more subdued than normal. The teachers had been given a sheet of parchment the second night he'd been there, which if the Hogwarts grape vine was to be believed had anything from a few complaints that needed fixing, to death threats. The Cadets had all gathered the same night he'd arrived in an unused classroom to go over the information they'd gotten. It wasn't the best, to say the least. The growth of the new 'Wizards Only' movement had grown, almost exponentially it seemed. While there had yet to be any movement against non-magical people, the Wizengamot were still pushing for the disbanding of the Academy, though there was a drop in those calling for the secession from 'Muggle Britain' entirely.

The staff at the Academy had warned them to be on guard, and to make sure they gave nothing away about the Academy, just in case they gave someone leverage. It wasn't ideal, but there were a small number of the staff at the Academy that pushed for bringing all of the Cadets home and teaching them there – that way none of them could be taken hostage and used as bargaining tools. There was no need at the moment, but if the situation got out of hand they wouldn't have many other options. The Colonel had assured them that short of an actual declaration of war, it wouldn't come to what would more or less be a complete evacuation. The Colonel had also elevated Cedric to the 'rank' of Cadet Commander. They were to follow his orders to the best of their abilities, if they were important and relevant to the ongoing risk.

Currently Harry and Hannah were writing up some possible situations that could happen if war were to break out again. Nothing that hadn't already been done by an actual tactician somewhere in Her Majesty's military, but it never hurt to practice and strategize. Also they had the common room mostly to themselves, with the one exception being Ron Weasley and Seamus Finnegan who were on the far side playing chess. Over their time at the school, they'd got a dislike for the redheaded boy who spouted off things that were of concern. As for Seamus, they didn't mind him but both Harry and Hannah suspected that not all his loyalties lay with the Crown.

"I still think that they'd try to take Buckingham Palace" Hannah had been insistent about this – though she'd also insisted the best option to deal with an attack was to mount General Purpose Machine Guns on the balcony and fire on any attackers.

"It doesn't make any sense, there isn't any strategic advantage, and there's a chance there's no high value hostages present. 10 Downing Street or Westminster would be better targets." Harry was not a fan of that theory.

"You're thinking like a non-magical Harry, most wizards and witches don't know who the PM is or where his offices are for that fact. But the Queen and Buckingham? I'd bet money most magicals think that the Queen still rules the land from her palace. It doesn't make any sense to us now, but they still think we use lamp oils for the majority of our houses." Harry nodded with his friend's logic.

"However, you have to consider that not everyone that will be against us will be that ignorant. There's bound to be someone on the other team that knows that the Queen is mostly a figurehead, except when it comes to the magical world. IF that fact is true then it is also true that Downing Street and Parliament would be better targets." Harry stopped as someone walked through the portrait hole. It was Hermione Granger, whom they'd been trying to become better friends with after they'd heard some of the other students talking about her behind her back.

"Hey Hermione, in the library?" Hannah asked, moving her book bag so the girl could sit down.

"Yes, since Professor Quirell let us go early I thought I'd get a head start on that essay Professor Flitwick assigned us." She spoke rather fast, Harry thought.

"A good idea, we just decided to head back and relax for a while. We'll probably end up doing that a bit lat…" Hannah trailed off as she saw Hermione reading the scrap of paper they'd been using to take down their ideas.

"Why do you have a list of 'possible targets'?" Her tone wasn't accusing, but neither was it friendly.

"Balls" Harry said, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "As you may or may not have heard, there's been more anti-muggle sentiment lately, so much so that there's been talk of a new conflict." Harry didn't really know if it was public knowledge, but he hoped he could pass it off.

"Really?" Hermione looked rather surprised.

"Aye, there was talk of the Magical World breaking completely from Muggle Britain. Something that isn't allowed under the…"

"Treaty of Kent yes" Hermione cut him off "So what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that something like this hasn't been seen since Grindelwald's rise to power, even Voldemort didn't advertise wanting to break with the muggle government. Mostly because they never acted directly to stop him, but also because he knew it would draw them against him in full force." Hannah kept her voice low as more students began streaming in, a few of the other Gryffindor Cadets giving them nods as they came in.

"There aren't a lot of ways magic can block a bullet." Harry cut off Hermione's next question. "Besides the fact, most of the land and buildings that Magicals have in Britain are owned by the Crown and they could easily take it back if they needed too."

"Where did you guys learn all of this?" It was a question that brought them up short, since they weren't technically supposed to tell anyone about the Academy. However since Harry had been brought before the Wizengamot it wasn't that much of a secret.

"I went to an Academy that opened as a safe haven for magical children that didn't have many options in the non-magical world. They taught me some of it, the rest I read about later. If you'll excuse us." He nodded to Hannah who was gathering up their spare bits of parchment and books, "We're going to go and work on that essay, see you round?" Hermione nodded to them as they left, her mind still reacting to the information they'd given her.

"So much for secrecy" Hannah muttered.

"There was a good chance she would have found out anyway" Harry replied. "Besides" he added, "She can become an asset if necessary. I get the impression that she's not happy about the way the magical world exists…"

δ

Northumberland, UK

31 October 1991

Hogwarts Castle

Great Hall

It had been almost a month since the 'Inquisitor' had come to Hogwarts and since then a few things had changed. Snape had been less vicious towards his students, Quirrell stuttered a bit less, and Dumbledore had been very scarce. One thing O'Connell had been unable to sort out, though, was Snape's terrible greasy hair. A popular rumour running around the school was that he had been given one week to deal with it or he'd be sacked. On Halloween night, Dumbledore sat at the head of the staff table, with that twinkle in his eyes. "Good evening students, tonight we celebrate a great many things, we celebrate the dead and the living, and free sweets in some places." He chuckled as a few students laughed. "However I'll let you all get into your food now." As the words finished food began to appear at every table like usual, but at the same time massive pumpkins began to float into the hall, preceded by a wave of live bats. The students screamed and cheered and laughed of course. For the occasion most had worn their pointed hats, and were happily digging into large amounts of sugar.

Hannah, Harry, Hestia, and Flora had all managed to sit together at the Hufflepuff table. It was the first time they'd managed to speak for almost a week. "Despite what they say about inter-house unity, they sure do discourage it." Harry was in the middle of his second treacle tart when Hannah made the observation. Setting his fork down for a moment, he nodded.

"They certainly make it difficult to see your friends in other houses outside of class and mealtimes." He paused for thought, "Though I suppose it would be easier for some than others, considering both Slytherin and Hufflepuff are in the lower levels and Ravenclaw and Gryffindor are in the towers." He finished eating his tart before grabbing an arctic roll.

Before they could continue the conversation the doors to the Hall burst open as Quirrell ran in, screaming his head off, "TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS!" Before promptly fainting, forwards. Mass hysteria quickly ensued, with students falling over backwards in an attempt to rise and the professors quickly trying to stop the students from panicking. With a wave of his wand Dumbledore let a cannon blast into the air, and all motion stopped.

"All students will follow their prefects to their dormitories, and all teachers will follow me to the dungeons." His voice was calm but radiating power.

"Albus you can't be serious, the dorms for my House are in the dungeons. So are Pomona's. We don't know where the troll is now." Snape was surprisingly the first member of staff to speak out against the Headmasters plan.

"Of course, my mistake…." He trailed off for a moment, cursing his own stupidity. "All students will stay here with Inquisitor O'Connell, while the teaching staff will head to the dungeons to deal with the troll. None of you are in any danger, and this creature will be dealt with shortly." He tried his best to be reassuring. O'Connell nodded to the teachers as they headed out to the dungeons, sans Quirrell.

As soon as the professors had left the elder O'Connell nodded to his son who quickly grabbed a large green duffel from under the Head Table. He unzipped it quickly, drawing what looked to be a Remington shotgun as his son drew a marksman rifle. They loaded their weapons quickly, as most of the muggleborn students began explaining what the strange contraptions were to the surrounding students. "Sir, why do you look like you're gearing up for a fight?" One of the seventh years asked the elderly man.

"I'm not willing to take any chances, until I know that troll is dead I'll be on my guard. You all best be as well, back away from the door as best you can, my son and I will be closing it until the Headmaster and the other professors return." He zipped up his duffel, shoving it back beneath his chair and moving to the front of the room. Just as he was about to shut the doors, a smell of rotting garbage began to float through the Hall. "Everyone back now!" O'Connell had a voice that you could only obey, as students began fleeing to the back of the room. They heard the great lumbering beast before they saw it, a loud scratching interrupted only by the thunderous rumble of footsteps. As the troll rounded the corner, stopping short at seeing such a large amount of humans, a great lightning bolt flashed across the enchanted sky.

"That's one big fucker ain't it da?" Winston said aloud, grinning from ear to ear.

"Aye, not as big as those Yeti back in Shangri-La when I met your mother, but he's definitely a big bugger. Mind you… Had some help from a very smart guy dressed as a tramp. Do remember to hit it in the eye please, no need to waste the ammo." The older man was grinning too, right before he pumped his shotgun and fired.

The troll was not happy as the metal projectile designed to be able to stop charging bears slammed into its hand, forcing it to drop the wooden club it held. However it was considerably less happy when a 7.62 round split through its left eye and into it cranium. A second later and it had three more holes in its body, its other eye and left hand, as well as its throat. As it collapsed, the elder O'Connell moved to the side and spit one more slug into its corpse.

"Well I see you found the troll Mr. O'Connell." The entire hall turned as they heard the Headmasters grave proclamation.

"I rather believe that it found us, Headmaster." Winston said with a wink. Harry wasn't sure who started it, but suddenly there was claps and cheers filling the hall. Students wolf whistled and came up to where the two O'Connells and the Headmaster stood, thanking the two men who'd killed the troll.

Anyone paying attention to the Headmaster would have seen the look of fury that overcame him, before he managed to calm himself, and he too thanked the two men.

δ

So not exactly what you all expected I hope. I'm afraid that is it for now, I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season, and I will see you all next time.


End file.
